Not as Expected
by 049 Faithless Observer
Summary: With MESSIAH and NERV's succesfully blunders now known, another organization attempts to butt in on the Anti Angel market with Jet Alone. Will Yumi be able to stop it or will hope vanish in a nuclear meltdown? And what with Shinji? R&R Re rated for now.
1. Chapter 1

Note: I don't own, EVA, and several characters and other concepts are shamelessly stolen from Gunbuster 2, the Culture Series, and a whole load of other random stuff though no names are copied. (Yumi is based on Nono from Gunbuster 2, Giant robot names are inspired from Fafnir in the Azure, etc . . .) And I have waaay too much super robot anime on the brain. Please review enjoy, use it as cheap toilet paper up to you I right it to try and get Grooving Magic out of my head, CURSE ANIME THEME SONGS!

Chapter One: Not as Expected

The rain . . . It gave the entire world a magical quality, few people could truly say they admired this rain. The cold and the damp that made that time spent inside more precious and bearable while adding a sense of surrealism to the world. It was this tapestry of cloud dimmed sunlight reflected off water on an early afternoon that Shinji Ikari age seven found himself facing two men on his way home from school.

Shinji's Sensei had always told him never to speak to strangers, and these two were most definitely strange. Both were tall by even an average adults standards, clad in black, black cloaks over black suits with black sunglasses. Both held umbrella's, black as well, in one hand, the other invisible within their cloaks.

"Ikari Shinji?" One of the men asked.

Shinji didn't answer his eyes wide, he backed away slowly. "We are looking for an Ikari Shinji, are you he?" The second man asked leaning forward slightly. Shinji nodded nervously, fright compelling him.

The first man smiled evilly. "That's good." In an eye blink he was upon the boy and in a single swift move knocked the young child unconscious. Agent Rico sighed in relief as the kid slumped in his arms. The other man, agent Tanaka shrugged as he came up to the boy and checked him over again. He flipped open a Cell phone and hit a number on speed dial.

"HQ, we've found the candidate, inform the Colonel it was exactly as he predicted." He snapped the phone shut glancing at his partner, he gestured back towards a waiting car. "Lets go."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

_Hello Shinji . . ._

_Welcome to MESSIAH . . . _

_He's bonded with you Shinji, you and the Mark Strife share a common bond now . . ._

_This is Yumi, the second Candidate, I'm sure you'll be the best of friends . . ._

_She's different from other girls she's . . . _

_Don't ever forget my Young Dodo bird your still learning to fly don't feel bad about set backs . . ._

_The Mark Strife trusts you and thats enough for me . . ._

_We're defenders of Justice Shinji-Sama! . . . _

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji Ikari age Fourteen sighed slightly as he placed the phone back on the receiver. "Should I have come?" He asked himself, trying to ignore the evacuation warnings in the background, they weren't much use as they didn't tell where to evacuate to. He heard a breaking sound followed by a slight toneless whistling behind him and turned to see Yumi age fourteen (theoretically), slowly stepping away from a ruined parking meter that had accidentally gotten in the way of one of her tirades about Justice and defending humanity.

"Yumi . . . How many times have you done this, he asked shaking his head as he looked at the wreckage of the parking meter.

"Uuuuhhmmmm, three hundred and seven times. . . Not counting chain reactions." She said after a long thoughtful pause hands in a thinking posture. "OOOOooooohhhh I'm sorry Shinji-Sama!"

"Its . . . Alright, Yu I know you wouldn't do it intentionally." He said smiling. "Though I'm glad nobody was around to see tha . . ."

He stopped as something caught his eye. Not far from where he stood a girl sat at the center of a crosswalk, a very odd girl. Even from here he could tell her hair and eyes were colors that would have been natural if their places had been inverted. Crimson eyes and azure hair definitely would stand out. She stared at him distantly . . . Sadly.

"What'cha looking at Shinji Sama?" Yumi asked turning curiously off of her apologies to see Shinji starring into the distance.

Shinji blinked, and the girl disappeared. "N-nothing." He replied glancing back to Yumi who had come to stand by his side. She was two or three inches taller then him, and still a bit of a beanpole despite her figure beginning to fill out.

She too was odd when he thought about it, someone looking at her would immediately note the four pointed starbursts of herretinas set in her blue/gray eyes, and the bubblegum pink hair almost immediately after. Regardless, she was his fellow pilot and his companion, what's more she was his friend and thoughts of her unusual traits barely ever crossed his mind.

She blinked a few times curiously, before frowning, where was that shrieking . . . "GET DOWN." Shinji shouted, knocking himself and Yumi down flat on the ground as an attack chopper slammed into a building nearby.

A massive foot came down flat on the hapless craft, completing its destruction in wave front of heat and shrapnel. "WHAT THE HELL!" Shinji gasped out as Yumi buried her head deep in his chest in surprise driven fright.

There was a sharp screeching sound of tire against pavement and Shinji looked up, to see that his ride had seemingly finally arrived, a door opened revealing a mauve haired woman wearing a pair of dark tinted wraparound sunglasses. "Misato I presume?" Shinji asked dryly as he pulled Yumi up off the ground.

"You presume correctly, get in." Misato frowned as the kid tossed a small bag in. One, she had never been informed that she was picking up two children, two, he seemed entirely too calm despite the obvious wide eyed shock at what he had just seen. She hit the gas as soon as the door closed.

Shinji glanced back out the back window. "Care to explain what's with the Godzilla knockoff?"

"That is an Angel." Misato explained glancing at Shinji's dumbfounded look. "Hey I don't name them." She defended as she weaved her Alpine through a cloud of falling debris.

"Didn't say a thing." Shinji replied glancing back at Yumi, the girl was thoroughly fascinated, but then again she was like that with most things.

"That reminds me, I was only sent to pick you up who's she?" Misato asked, cocking her head back to the girl in the backseat.

"This is Yumi Toyama." Shinji replied for his hopelessly engrossed comrade. "She's a friend of mine who accompanied me here. I apologize but we weren't expecting this kind of trouble."

"No I understand completely, Misato interjected. Though it's going to make things a little complicated when we get to headquarters." Misato sighed, 'This girl should have been in the shelters, no time to stop now . . .'

"So, you have any clue why my father called for me? I kind of was expecting something more then his secretary if he was going to drag me out here." Shinji asked as they continued to drive, things became considerably more peaceful as they moved away from the monsters immediate vicinity, especially with the city virtually abandoned.

That was until now, Misato's eye twitched slightly as she sent the car careening left and right down the street. "I am . . . A Captain of the . . . UN . . . Not somebody's . . . Secretary." She gritted out with each violent turn of the wheel sending her unlucky passengers bouncing around like beans in a can.

"I . . . I'll take your word for it." Shinji said weekly.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." Yumi mumbled as she rubbed at her forehead.

"Serves you for not putting your seatbelt on." Shinji commented to the bubblegum haired girl.

Misato stopped the car suddenly sending her passengers into another series of bounces as she pulled out a pair of binoculars and leaned out the driver's side window.

"Oh no, they wouldn't!"

She saw the VTOL's pulling out and knew exactly what was coming next. "N2 MINE!". She launched herself onto Shinji, knocking the poor kid back into the side door moments before a sizeable portion of land around the distant Angel went up in a massive fireball. The shockwave from the laser triggered clean fusion reaction reached even out to the Captains distant Alpine, flipping it like an empty Soda can.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." Yumi muttered again as she poked her head between the seats. "That was an N2 mine wasn't it." Eyes wide.

"Yeah." Misato replied as she pushed herself off Shinji.

Both females struggled out of the car first, not paying any mind to a poor squished Shinji as he struggled out behind Misato. A considerable feat considering the state of the car sitting on its side.

Misato screamed in near pain as she saw her car. "Nooooooooooooooo! And I still have a whole mess of payments left on it!"

"Hmmmm, too bad." Shinji remarked dryly as he kicked one of the wheels absently. "Hay Yu, mind helping us get this back on its . . . Wheels . . ." Shinji was staring back over his Shoulder toward Yumi who was currently busy staring across the lake at the ruined chunk of land where the N2 mine had been detonated.

A dark shape stood, visible even through the heat wave. 'What kind of monster is that!' Shinji wondered 'Even a Mark Unit wouldn't have shrugged off a direct hit . . .'

"Look like the UN couldn't handle it." Misato muttered as she turned back to her car. "Hey Shinji, Yumi, help me flip the car." Both youths nodded as they came back to help.

"On three, one two . . . Three?" Misato blinked as the car flipped back over from a solid push from Yumi. "It must have been very precariously balanced." The girl laughed cheerfully, fortunately Misato didn't notice how her sneakers were dug close to two inches into the ground.

He sighed. 'Got to talk to her about that.' Yumi wasn't one to be wasteful with her strength, so he usually didn't need to remind her that humans couldn't run at sixty miles an hour or bench half a ton. Still, her mind tended to get side tracked . . . She wasn't so much a ditz as just very sincere and pure in her belief that one should always do their best, and if that meant using her maximum potential so be it.

Misato tried the ignition, and get nothing. "Great . . ." She shook her head, "Hey Shinji I'm going to pop the hood ok."

"Right."

Well, Shinji had seen worse messes, the battery was a wreck having come lose of its housing. It had been crushed as the car flipped on its side, and it looked like most of the associated equipment was a wreck.

Fortunately they were quite close to a garage, Shinji didn't like where this was going.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Gendo Ikari stood upon the upper tier bridge of Central Dogma studying the Angel on the main screen.

"As we suspected, its regenerating itself." Sub Commander Fuyutsuki commented.

"Without that ability it could not operate without support units." Gendo replied.

The feed from the aircraft disappeared in a flash of light and was replaced in an instant with a ground based camera, the aircraft that had been feeding video to the geo front could be seen as a dissipating fireball in the sky.

"Well quite impressive, it can upgrade its operational parameters." Fuyutsuki noted.

"And its also getting smarter." Gendo added, noting how the Angel had not allowed any of the other aircraft to approach. It wasn't going to let them drop another N2 mine. Even IT hadn't been fully immune to having one dropped on its head.

"It should renew its attack any minute now. . ."

Gendo nodded in agreement.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Yes. Don't worry. His safety is my top priority. Look, can you get a car train for us, an express of course. Well I did volunteer to pick him up, so it's only my duty to make sure he gets there. See-ya." Misato snapped her phone shut as she sighed.

"This stinks! I just had this car repaired and it's a total wreck already... 33 more payments to go... Plus the cost of repairs…!

And look, my favourite dress is ruined... Ruined…"

"Miss Misato?" Shinji tried to get the woman's attention.

"And I looked so good in it…"

"Excuse me, Misato...?" He tried again.

"Ah, what's that?" Misato finally asked.

"Those batteries . . . isn't that, theft?" Misato blinked and noted the batteries sitting in a pile crammed in next to Yumi in the back seat.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Ah, it's an emergency and we needed a working car right. Ah, I am a government official after all, so everything's going to be perfectly fine, OK! Ok." Misato replied quickly, trying to justify her rather reckless destruction of several vehicles, just to get the batteries, and not just the alleged theft of said power supply.

"Did we really need all of them though?" Yumi asked innocently from the back seat.

"Yeah I don't think anyone's going to buy that excuse." Shinji chimed in.

"Your no fun, you know your not as cute as I thought you were." Misato teased just to get on the boys nerves.

"Is that so . . ." Shinji smiled as he relaxed in his seat. " . . . Well your not as mature as I expected . . . Hey, hey watch out!" Shinji shouted as Misato drove the car roughly for Shinji's comment.

They came riding into what looked like an underground garage, at least until their parking spot began moving. "Car elevator." Shinji noted, 'This place must be pretty big to justify one of these.'

"So this is where my father works?" Shinji asked, trying to strike up conversation.

"Uhuh, NERV, it's a secret organization controlled by the UN." Misato replied as they continued to descend. Yumi sat fascinated in the back seat. She'd never left MESSIAH's Japan branch or the city of Kyoto until just today so it was no surprise . . . At least to Shinji that she was so fascinated by everything around her.

"Don't you know what your father does?" Misato asked curiously. Shinji shook his head.

"Sorry, all I was told is that what he does is important to the future of humanity, I suppose . . . I should be proud of him." Shinji commented distantly. He shook his head of that thought, his father had given up on him. Too bad, he didn't have to give that man a second chance.

"I almost forgot, did your Dad send you an ID card?" Misato asked, the least she could do was make certain to follow protocol considering she had managed to screw up security by bringing the girl along.

"Yeah, here, this is it." He pulled a mass of papers from his bag and handed them to Misato.

"Oh, Thanks." She looked them over before handing Shinji a small, thick manual. "Here, read this." It read Top Secret: Welcome to NERV across its front page. 'Yeah, the top secret in big bold, blood red letters is really welcoming.' Shinji thought dryly.

"So I'll be working for my father? . . . Of course, the bastard wouldn't call for me unless he needed me for something." The bitterness in those words surprised Misato.

"You don't get along with your dad . . . You sound just like me." Misato whispered softly. Shinji looked for some way to change the topic when he got his first glimpse of the GeoFront.

"Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh, Its so big!" Yumi shouted as she pressed her face against the glass of the back window.

Shinji smiled at his companion wonder. "A real GeoFront, sure is impressive", he remarked simply.

"Yeah, this is our secret underground base, NERV central, it's the key to rebuilding our world, a fortress for all mankind."

'Deep stuff', Shinji thought.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Commander Gendo Ikari stood before the UN military committee as the three officer finally came to a decision.

"Command of this operation is being entrusted to you. Don't betray our trust." The Commander in Chief of the UN forces stated coldly.

"Yes, Sir." Was Ikari's only reply, staying calm and to the point was a matter of course for him.

"Mr. Ikari, we've already seen that our weapons seem to have no affect on these things. That's why we're giving you a chance." One of the other UN officers chimed in, his tone of voice making it quite clear that what he meant to say was, "That's 'the only reason' why we're giving you a chance."

"Are you sure that you can beat them?" The Commander in Chief asked.

"That is why Nerv exists."

"I pray your right."

The UN command staff disappeared back down into the GeoFronts lower levels on one of the bridge elevators.

"The target is still stationary. Estimated ability to intercept is only 7.5", one of the bridge officers reported.

"The UN forces are exhausted, what are we going to do." Fuyutsuki asked.

Gendo didn't say anything for several long moments. "Activate Unit-01."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Uhm, we've been past here before." Shinji Commented, "Are you sure we're not lost."

"Of course not!" Misato replied, "I'm just still getting used to this place." The past through another set of doors and were met with a mild updraft. "Eh, its because of these things I hate to weir a skirt around here." Misato commented pressing the offending piece of clothing down before it got out of hand.

"Shinji is right, inertial co-ordinates show that we have already past this point twice." Yumi chimed in.

"Mmmm? Well, don't worry, these transit things were made to be used after all."

Shinji and Yumi sighed, "She's very persistent." Shinji muttered.

"Uhuh", Yumi nodded in agreement.

The Captain finally decided to try traveling vertically rather then diagonally and ushered her two unlikely companions into an elevator.

It didn't take long for the doors to open on yet another scene of mild embarrassment to Misato.

"Ah hi there Ritsuko . . ." Misato gave a small embarrassed grin to her friend, currently clad in a one piece bathing suit and a lab coat.

"Why are you wasting my time Captain, don't you know we're short on time and manpower?" Ritsuko berated.

"So . . . Is this the boy?" She asked glancing at Shinji.

"Right according to the Marduk report he's the Third Child."

"Hmmm, pleased to meat you . . . And who's this?" Ritsuko asked glancing at the girl behind Shinji. 'What's wrong with her eyes?' Ritsuko thought as she noted the starburst pattern of the girls irises.

"I'm Yumi Toyama." The girl chimed, "I came here to accompany my comrade Shinji." She announced sounding a little proud of herself for getting to come along.

Ritsuko shook her head. "Misato, I shouldn't have to remind you about security procedure why isn't this girl in a shelter!"

"Well erm, she was with Shinji when I picked him up and I couldn't just leaver her, umm, yeah."

Ritsuko sighed in exacerbation as they got off the elevator and took yet another route, this time traveling on a heavy lift elevator heading down even further. Yumi leaned against the rails commenting how awesome his all was. Shinji just shrugged, listening in on the conversation between the two adults. Something about a Unit-01. Whatever, it wasn't his problem.

Their little elevator trip was followed by a short boat ride, why there was a lake underground was beyond Shinji but he hadn't built the place and there was no accounting for style.

"Hey why's it so dark?" Yumi shouted as they walked into a pitch black room.

The lights came on, and revealed something out of a nightmare, a purple grinning deaths head shaped out of armor wicked horn extending above and sealed jaws below.

The response she got actually surprised Ritsuko, Yumi goggled at the massive construct in sheer fascination. But Shinji seemed unfazed. "So . . . Does it come with a drink mixer?" He finally asked.

"I suppose this is my fathers work." He added as he thumbed through the NERV manual.

"You won't find it in there." Ritsuko said. "This is Humanities ultimate weapon, constructed here in secret as weapon to use against the Angels. Evangelion, Unit-01." She said with a slight hint of pride for the work of NERV and its progenitor Gehrin organization.

"Heh, figures, didn't doubt the old fart was color blind. I mean who paints a giant robot that shade ofpurple!" Shinji noticed, but didn't particularly give a damn that his father stood at an observation level far above him.

"It's been awhile, Shinji." Gendo stated coldly.

"Gendo . . . I thought you were dead! And I paid that Chap good money too." Shinji huffed and stared right back at his father, he smirked slightly. "It appears we have the same tastes." He remarked noting his own silver trimmed black jacket, before glancing back up at the older mans almost identical article of clothing with gold trim.

Gendo looked over at Ritsuko ignoring his sons comments, "We're moving out."

"Moving out! But Unit Zero's still in cryo-stasis... Wait a minute your gonna' use Unit One?" Misato sounded shocked.

"There's no other way." Ritsuko replied.

"Now wait! Rei can't do it yet, can she? We don't have a pilot!" Misato argued.

"We just received one." The Commander stated.

Misato's eyes widened. "Your serious?"

Ritsuko turned to Shinji, "Shinji Ikari, you will pilot it."

"I'd rather not." Shinji remarked. There was a long silence.

"Shinji you HAVE to do it, there is nobody else who can." Ritsuko urged.

"Shinji if you don't do it we're all dead, everyone will die." Misato chimed in.

"Meh, Good rittanse and good luck to the next race I'm sure the dolphins will do a fine job with the world."

Yumi stood behind Shinji watching, she couldn't believe this, Shinji had never seemed so cold before as he refused again.

"Shinji you will pilot it and defeat the Angel, or the human race will die here." Gendo stated with cold finality, it was an order. And one that had no affect what so ever on Shinji's attitude.

Shinji looked up at the man and shrugged. "Well then, I suggest you make peace with your dear and fluffy Lord, Gendo, maybe he'll call his little messenger off"

"If you will not pilot it then I have no use for you, leave now." Gendo ordered coldly, Shinji just shrugged.

Gendo was more then a little irritated, Shinji was supposed to be an emotional cripple, not some little arrogant punk! He radioed Fuyutsuki on the GeoFronts closed line network. "Fuyutsuki?"

"Sir?" The Sub Commander asked.

"Wake Rei."

"Can we use her?" Fuyutsuki asked surprised, Rei was in a bad way right now.

"She's not dead yet." Was all Gendo said.

"Rei?"

"Yes." The voice was weak and distant.

"Our spare is unusable, you will pilot it again."

The voice gathered a little strength. "Yes Sir."

"Reconfigure Unit-01 for Rei and then activate." Ritsuko shouted as she began directing the work to prepare Unit-01 for its pilot. Shinji ignored them all standing out of the way and looking coldly at his father.

Yumi glanced back and fourth in shock before running to Shinji side. "Shinji Sama, w-why are you doing this, we're protectors of the earth and justice Shinji Sama!" Yumi begged pulling on Shinji's arm. "You heard what your fathe. . ." She was surprised by how sharply Shinji pulled his arm from her grip.

"You don't understand Yu, that bastard only wants to use me. Not only that he was arrogant enough to only call for me when he was desperate. The old fart needs to learn that people aren't his tools."

"But, but even so! Shinji Sama what about the monster!" She whispered, "What if it . . ."

Shinji lowered is head eyes closed, "If these people can't stop it . . . Then . . . I'll summon the Mark Strife and handle it myself."

They both looked up as a group of nurses wheeled a hospital bed in. 'Oh god.' Shinji thought darkly as he saw the girl laying on the bed. She couldn't have been holding on by more then a thread, if she piloted she'd be dead within seconds.

Before he knew what he was doing he was on the move, boot heels clicking smartly against the floor. He forced the medics out of the way, one of the burlier ones, probably used as an enforcer to keep panicking patients at bay tried to block his path, and received a shocking surprise as Shinji withdrew a stun baton from his jacket.

Shinji looked at the Medics now standing in a wide circle in disgust, "You call yourselves Nurses and Doctors when you would treat a patient like this, you sicken me!" He roared.

"Leave now." Gendo ordered from his vantage point far above. His useless son first refused to pilot and then tried to stop him from using Rei.

"Shinji Sama is right!" Another voice shouted up, catching the Commanders attention. Gendo had dismissed the girl for the time being, she was a security breach but not a significant one for the moment, and one that Section Two could clean up later.

"You people are supposed to be protectors of the Earth and Justice, yet you would send an injured girl to fight your battles, how dishonorable!"

" . . . I'll" Shinji began before being cut off.

"And then you expect Shinji Sama to go out there with no previous training in the operation of Unit-01, unforgivable . . ."

"I'll do it!" Shinji shouted out above his companion. "I'll clean up your god damn mess Gendo." Shinji shouted at his father before popping his knuckles.

Gendo smirked, "Very well, configure the Unit for Shinji." Gendo ordered. He didn't notice that his son had never said he would pilot EVA. Shinji looked down at Rei who lay eyes shut tight trying to hold the pain at bay. He smiled weakly even if she couldn't see. "I'm doing this for you, I wont run away, because it is my choice to protect you." He whispered gently before closing his eyes tight.

'Mark Strife . . . Lets go.'

At that instant the Angel Attacked the first of the emplacement directly above the GeoFront. The entire facility shook, the girl, Rei slipped from her bed almost falling to the floor before Shinji caught her and held her close to his chest.

"Shinji Sama!" Looking up Shinji saw the debris falling toward him, he tried to move, but with the girl, light as she was, she still slowed him down. He wrapped himself low to shield her. The debris never fell.

Everyone stared shocked at the arm held protectively over the two children. Ritsuko blinked a few times as she worked out the impossible geometry of the image. Unit-01 still stood completely inactive in its cage. The massive arm that had shielded the two children seemed to extend literally from the wall. "What the!"

Another arm stretched forward seemingly emerging from nowhere, technicians, and medical personnel ran to get out of the way as whatever was emerging came fully through. It fell into the coolant sending a knee high wave across the walkways. Shinji ignored it as he cradled the girl, looking up to his bonded Mark Unit.

Its bone white armor, and black on black underlay, smooth organic lines, wickedly spiked head, and massive lidless, perfectly smooth, solid, blue eyes set one on each side of its head. The first of MESSIAH's Production Mark Units, the Mark Strife.

Even Gendo blanched at the sight. This was utterly impossible. Shinji turned to Yumi, handing Rei off to the girl "Take Care of her" Yumi nodded determinedly. "MARK STRIFE" He shouted up at the machine, it lowered one of its massive arms down to Shinji accepting its bond mate into its hand before lifting him back up. High into the air. Shinji turned to face his father as the Mark strife opened it cockpit assembly, massive layers of armor sliding away to reveal the Diver Pod.

"Understand this Gendo, I don't do this for you, don't ever, EVER, expect anything from me you bastard." With that Shinji stepped off of the Mark Strife's broad hand and onto the lip of the pod.

The entire assembly slipped back into the machines upper chest before being sealed away safely by layers of armor.

The solid blue orbs of the machines eyes flashed to life, its crested head raising to its full height. One huge arm came up and gripped tightly on the upper level of the cage. Fortunately the EVA cages had been designed to contain a berserk EVA if only for a limited time. It allowed Shinji and his Unit the purchase they needed to climb from the still submerged cage up onto the transit line.

Misato was the first to react. "Hey you, Yumi what's going on!" She asked the girl holding Rei. None of the medics had come close after Shinji had handed the girl to her.

Yumi smiled, herpale blue eyesfilled with pride, "Shinji Sama is going to do his job as a member of MESSIAH, as a defender of Justice and mankind." She said simply, She turned to see the Mark Strife still making its way up sharp incline of the EVA lift.

"I have faith in him, and the Mark Strife, they won't let us down."

Misato nodded weakly as the machine continued. "Crap, how's that thing going to reach the surface it won't mate with an EVA lift!"

"I imagine Shinji Sama will use the main vernier jump jets." Yumi replied handing Rei off to a medic.

"Main . . . Vernier . . . Jump jets?" Misato asked., "Damn it!" Misato ran to one of the closed circuit coms and called the bridge. "Listen Hyuga get all the number 3 lift shaft gatesopen NOW! Don't ask just do!"

She sighed slowly, today was far too stressful. Though Ristuko was looking much worse off as she patted a few stray hairs down. "Perhaps . . . We should head to the bridge." She said quietly. Receiving a nod from Misato, Yumi stayed with Rei as much as she wanted to see Shinji fight, she had been told to watch the girl. 'This is the first time an production unit has seen actual combat . . . Please, don't either of you die on us Shinji Sama, Mark Strife . . .'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Angel Sachiel had expected a final line of defense, it did not expect what had emerged from a shaft two blocks from its position. A massive bone white construct had flown up into view a wash of fire surrounding, and covering its surface for a moment as it settled down before the now superheated shaft it had used to reached the surface.

It was nearly as large as Sachiel, almost as broad, and quite nearly as tall. Still the Angel was confident that this Lilum construct would be of no great concern. They had used their mightiest weapons and still failed to penetrate its AT field, there was no way this thing would . . .

It was true, the punch didn't penetrate the AT field, but all that energy had to go somewhere and even the barrier of the soul was not immune to Newtonian physics. The Angel went bouncing like a ping pong ball down the street as Shinji sat tight in the spherical Diver Pod buried deep within the Mark Strife, there were no complex controls here. Only a pair of butterfly control stick and an omni purpose keyboard that sat before him.

Most control was handled through the machines direct link with Shinij's nervous system through the neuro receptors in the seat.

He drove one fist down hard against the field as he landed heavily on the Angel. He gritted his teeth in feed back pain. He could sense the field weakening through the Strife's all knowing sensor suit which served as a sixth sense through his link. "Die you goddamn bastard!" Shinji shouted angrily as he drove his fist down again and again.

Sachiel was startled and surprised, this was totally unexpected. Not only was this Lilum construct restraining it, it was weakening the AT field with brute force, its unrelenting physical attack slowly degrading the phase space that the brief sharp impacts of ranged projectiles could never hope to breach.

With one final strike the field gave, and Shinji reached down, grabbing Sachiel by its newly formed face, it yanked the monster up, and then kicked . . . Hard . . . Sachiel's bony mask was left dangling in the Strife's hand trailing muscle and tissue as the body went flying, colliding dead on with a nearly evicted apartment building.

'That district looks nearly abandoned, if I fight it there few homes and businesses will be damaged.' Shinji reasoned before charging after the now faceless Angel. Sachiel was in quite a lot of pain, now made worse as Shinji withdrew a combat knife the length of his machines Forearm from its back. Sachiel groped blindly for the monster that was killing it, and received a fresh lance of pain as its left arm was opened clean from wrist to shoulder spraying a mass of blood and the hydraulic fluid its muscles used, everywhere.

The monster gave it no remorse, knocking it to the ground, it pinned Sachiel's other shoulder before ripping the arm out of its socket. Sachiel was totally defenseless now as it felt the agonizing pain, of something smashing into its core, again and again, cracking the outer shell until finally . . . It all . . . Mercifully . . . Blissfully . . . Ended . . .

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The bridge crew stared in aw at the massive war machine that stood, armor covered in blood over the thoroughly ruined body of the 3rd Angel. "Its impossible . . ." Ritsuko whispered. "Even without an AT field it was able to degrade the phase space.

"What is that monstrosity." Fuyutsuki asked as he sat back in his chair. Gendo Ikari, looked at him coldly. "It is a threat to the scenario." He replied simply. "We will need to inform the Council." Gendo Ikari stood quietly and walked off the bridge. How could this have happened, all variables had been accounted for, how, how! His mind kept working, gears shifting. Gendo Ikari refused to accept that what had happened went against the Scenario. 'It was unforeseen, very well, we will simply make it work to our own ends.' He decided, smirking slightly. At least, it would leave the old men quite displeased.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Do you thinkwe've done right with those two?" A black haired woman asked her companion. A tall silver haired man wearing a dark black uniform with MESSIAH in silver above the right breast and a Colonels marks on his collar.

"I think we have." He replied. "The Mark Strife translated from its hangar to Pilot Ikari's position without even a command from us. I think that proves beyond a doubtthat it has bonded."

"But so much power in a normal persons hands . . ."

"He is far from normal, and Yumi is there with him she is a force to be reckoned with even without the Mark Ziel."

"True . . . Still you allowed them both to go. "

"Yes."

"And you think this is right?"

"Yes . . . Yes I do."

"You would leave us defenseless."

"No I would not, we still have the Doll system for the Mark Shrek and Mark Sig. And we still have the Mark Fear."

"Your not as young as you used to be Colonel, both of you are old warriors, you can't keep up if SEELE decided to attack."

"We still have some time before they complete the Mass Production EVA's."

"Even so . . . We're even further from completing our MP units and I can't expect the Slave Corp. to Stop EVA's or Angels."

"True . . . Good or bad judgment its up to them now. I hope Shinji can find happiness, I know his mother would want it that way."

" . . . "

"Hmmm?"

"You . . . Still lover her . . . don't you."

" . . . Of course."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

So ends Chapter One, now for some fun technical details.

NERV Mecha

Evangelion Unite 01

Height: 42.1 Meters

Weight: 750 tons.

Power: External, Geo Front Thermal Generators

Weapons: Progressive Knife, Ax, Pallet Rifle, Positron Rifle, Rocket Launcher, N2 mines.

Special Equipment AT field.

Evangelion Unit 00

Height: 40.2 Meters.

Weight: 720 tons.

Power: External, Geo Front Thermal Generators.

Weapons: Progressive Knife, Ax, Pallet Rifle, Positron Rifle, Rocket Launcher, N2 Mines

Special Equipment AT field.

MESSIAH Mecha

Mark Strife: 1st Generation Production Unit.

Height 45.1 Meters.

Weight: 2500 tons.

Power: Internal, Cold Fusion Reactor, Grid link reverse engineered from Mark Fear.

Internal Weapons: Rapid fire 255mm Chain guns, 50cm Rocket pods, arm mounted combat knives, head mounted pile driver.

External weapons: MESSIAH heavy Assault Rifle, MESSIAH2000 Caliber "20 inch"Revolver Cannon, MESSIAH2500 Caliber "25 inch"Hybrid Sniper Rifle, Messiah High Energy Particle Cannon, Vibration Knife.

Special Equipment: Core AI, EM Affectors (Shamelessly stolen and dumbed down from Ian M. Banks' Culture series.)

Series One, all purpose Synthetic Organism.

Height: 162 Centimeters

Weight: 50 Kilograms

Power: Internal artificial metabolism, external transmissionpower link to Mark Ziel.

Internal Weapons: EM affector, Rider Beam

External Weapons: All man pack weapons.

Special Equipment: Doll interface system.


	2. Aftermath

As usual I don't own EVA or anything to do with it.

As authors note I'd like to say I really enjoy trying to come up with massively different EVA stories if your going to do fanfiction I feel you should always try to do something that thought improbably the characters will at least react to realisticly. So please tell me if anyone seems too out of character, obviously Shinji is a lot different but certain parts of his character will begin to show through he's not some bad ass hero at leastnot all the time.He's just a kid who's a little more prepared this time to be a savior. Well R&R

Chapter Two: Aftermath

The Mark Strife by dint of its unusual configuration was unable to drop back into the GeoFront with any sort of speed, which left Shinji with no choice but to bring the machine down slowly. It seemed ridiculous that the most powerful weapons ever built would have to do something as undignified as crawl down a shaft, but what could you do?

'We should head over to that weird pyramid, that's most likely the Command center and would probably be the best place to stop.' Shinji decided as the Strife continued its slow progress downwards. He could have used the vernier jets again but they had already done enough damage for one day. It wouldn't do to wreck somebody else's base.

'So that was an Angel?' Shinji thought as he sat back in the Divers Seat within the control pod. 'Didn't seem all that tough, that field can be disrupted from continuous pressure, makes close combat the best form of attack, but I bet I could kill it with sustained beam fair if I tapped into the grid.'

He shook his head, "Man what a sheep screw, eh?"

There was a surge of shifting thoughts and emotion, readable only to Shinji as the Mark Strife replied in its own way, that was not language.

"Hmmm, Yeah I don't like it either, we had to really go all out to get that field to go down. Which reminds me can you release the weapons safeties next time I prefer to have my options open."

-Slight irritation and protest-

"Fine be that way." Shinji chided.

-Consideration, acknowledgement-

"That's good, if another of these things comes along we'll be ready . . . After all, we're here to protect the world right, that's why MESSIAH built you and trained me."

-Thoughtful agreement-

Shinji shrugged as they finally reached the sharp slope of the lift system that led from the Cage up to the launch shafts. Their progress was a little easier here as they could simply slide down the rails causing only minor damage. "You know if we stick around here we'll have to get you equipped to marry with their launch system.

-Indifference-

"Yeah sure, I just think you liked the dramatic affect of those flames." Shinji laughed.

- . . . -

That only caused Shinji to laugh harder as the massive war machine made its way towards the NERV pyramid at the Center of the GeoFront. He came to stop near one of the access doors on the ground level that lead out into the man made forest that surrounded the building. A squad of very nervous looking armed guards stood in front of the door, they must have been observing the Strife return. Shinji shrugged as he opened up an external com link.

"I'm coming out, I would like it very much if you wouldn't shoot me as the Mark Strife's automated defense systems would likely be very pissed." The cockpit assembly ejected exposing the Diver Pod.

Shinji pulled himself out and used a series of exposed handholds to drop down to the machine hand before it gently lowered him to the surface.

The guards surrounded him almost instantly, Captain Katsuragi stood behind them, her own .45 caliber semi auto drawn and at the ready.

"Hey Shinji." She said, "I hope you don't mind but we need you to come with us."

Shinji shrugged, "Not at all Captain, I understand, its your job I don't hold it against you."

She nodded, "Good." One of the Guards came forward with hand cuffs.

"Uh uh uh uh uh . . . You can keep the guns or you can use the cuffs, one or the other." Shinji said simply.

Misato sighed as the Section Two agent looked confused, "Fine, let him go without them." The Agent withdrew and the group headed back inside, half the Guards in front and half behind with two flanking him on each side. Misato stood on his left glancing at him every few seconds.

"So . . . What is that thing?" She asked.

"That thing is my Bonded Mark Unit, the Mark Strife." Shinji replied not really answering the question at all.

"I see . . ." Misato replied politely.

They ended up in front of a pair of overly elaborate Oak doors, two men stood Guard "The Commander wants to see you, in here please." One of them ordered.

Shinji was pushed inside and the door shut behind him. Shinji looked about, "Well hell you old fart, you sure have good tastes in decadence." Shinji commented as he walked hands in pockets toward the distant desk where his father sat hands steepeld before him. The older Ikari didn't comment as his son came right up to the desk, and then as a supreme insult to the man behind it, sat down cross legged on the desk itself, knocking papers to the floor.

It was by supreme force of will that Gendo didn't shoot his son right then a there.

"I would like to know, Shinji, what that machine is, who built it, why are you piloting it, tell me now." Gendo ordered.

"Uh, you forgot the magic word." Shinji commented cheerfully, "Though being the great guy I am I'll tell you anyways, partly because I want to see the look on your face and partly because I was ordered to tell you if you asked." Shinji sat back on the table, fingers pressed against his forehead as if in deep thought.

"Well then." He hopped back off the desk and snapped a solute. "Designated Pilot of the Mark Strife and operative of MESSIAH, Lieutenant J.G. Shinji Ikari reporting."

Gendo ground his teeth . . . "What about that machine . . . The Mark Strife." He pressed.

"Its one of MESSIAH's combat units, the Mark Strife is an all purpose combat system developed in secret as one of Earths ultimate defensive weapons. A Mark Unit . . . Forms a deep empathic bond with its pilot allowing it to track them at all times, that's why when I summoned it the Mark Strife translated to my position . . . Do you have any coffee?" Shinji asked.

The sudden totally off topic remark was enough to make even Gendo blink. He pressed a button on his desk. "Coffee". He cut the intercom link before any questions were asked from the Cafeteria staff.

"Thank you . . . Now where was I, oh yes the Mark Strife . . "

"When did you come to pilot it?" Gendo interrupted.

"Well, I'm sure you know about the two weeks I went missing when I was seven." Shinji began, Gendo indeed know about that, he had been ready to redesign the scenario, though it looked like that probably would have been a good idea in retrospect.

"I was kidnapped by MESSIAH and given an offer I couldn't refuse, pilot a Mark Unit for them and gain some self worth, or be left to my own devices. At seven years old any kid would jump at the chance to pilot a giant robot so it was pretty much a done deal. The next seven years were pretty much as you would expect other then trips to the MESSIAH training facility every other day to go through the battle simulations with the Mark Strife." Shinji shrugged, "I suppose I should probably be pretty messed, being abandoned by my father and then affectively raised by my teachers and some Ex military nuts and scientists, but I'm pretty happy with the way I turned out . . ."

There was a soft knocking at the door. "Enter."

A rather terrified looking young woman came, her shacking sent vibrations through the tray she carried carefully. Shinji got up quickly and strode up to her taking the tray carefully he smiled warmly. "Thank you very much, I think that's everything." He brought the tray back and set it down on the desk, poring himself a cup of coffee. "Much better."

"And MESSIAH, you continue to refer to it." Gendo commented.

"Well, most of that classified, I can't tell you much about it, not even where the main base is, partly because I don't know, and partly because what I do know is classified, kill yourself before you read it. But suffice it to say MESSIAH exists for much the same reason as NERV I would assume anyways. To stop external and internal threats to humanity. Since MESSIAH exists to safe guard Justice, Freedom, and Humanity, it is a strictly reactionary force . . . we never deploy preemptively. Which makes it very fortunate for you that I was here, MESSIAH will be informed post haste of course that we should look into deploying another Mark Unit and support crew to Tokyo-3 . . ."

He sipped his coffee. "I'm afraid that's all I can really tell you, the rest is classified mostly."

"The girl you came with?" Gendo pointed out.

"Yumi Toyama, she's another operative if that's what your asking though she's still training with the Mark Ziel, she's my backup the higher ups thought I might have needed some help." Shinji explained.

"And how many of these Mark Units are there?"

Shinji shrugged, "I think that's classified, I'll tell you there's more then one but less then fifteen." He said with a shrug. "Frankly I'm not sure if even MESSIAH's command staff knows about all of them. Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Yes that is everything for now . . ." Gendo paused, he'd only once ever had to ASK someone to do something before and that had been for that woman's hand in marriage, and frankly asking his son now galled him but if there was another organization involved with such powerful weapons they needed to be drawn out into the open where they could be observed. An assassin in the shadows was far worse then an army in the field.

"Will . . . you be staying?"

Shinji closed his eyes as he held his coffee half raised. "Are the Angels a long term threat?"

Gendo nodded, "They are, we expect a total of seventeen."

"And they'll all be that tough?"

"Most likely some will be weaker . . . Some will be much stronger."

"Then yeah, yeah I suppose I can stay around, just remember I'm doing it for the people here not for you." Shinji downed the remainder of his coffee before turning around and heading for the door. He paused before opening the big oak wood doors.

"Oh yeah, I had one more message for you, from the Colonel, you should feel honored . . . He told me to tell you . . . Stop using her name you bastard."

Gendo stared after Shinji as the door opened and then quickly closed. SEELE would call for him soon, none of this had been in the scenario.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yumi looked at her handiwork a dopish grin crossed her face. The card had been totally unadorned when she had bought it in the lobby, but now thanks to her steady hand and love of cartoon characters it sported a chibi Unit 01 and Rei both smiling with their fingers up in a V.

"This will make her feel better I'm sure . . ." She said to herself placing the card on the bedside table next to the peacefully sleeping girl. Yumi had never been truly sick in her life, though she had received injuries, and even collapsed from exhaustion on occasion, and she new she had always liked it when Shinji or her mother had come to see her in the hospital or at home. The training load as a Pilot for MESSIAH was truly brutal even for her and she took comfort where she could.

She heard a slight tapping at the door, turning she smiled brightly as her best friend stood in the door a slightly crooked smile on his face. "Shinji Sama what are you doing here so late?" She chided, and it was late, nearly three in the morning right now.

"Didn't want to sleep you know? Too worked up after the fighting."

Yumi nodded she could understand that.

Shinji's eyes roamed until they came to rest on the card. "I see you've left out a bit of your handiwork, eh Yu?" He picked the card up and looked at it, she had gotten better. He remembered when she had started, though that was back when he had first met her she just hadn't been able to give them that humorous cheery air that they needed to make people feel good.

He raised the card up, studying it and the sleeping Rei with seemingly great care, "I see an astonishing resemblance." He smirked.

Yumi giggled slightly at the compliment slash joke as Shinji replaced the card and sat down next to her. "They give you any trouble?" He asked.

"No, I think they were too busy just making sure she survived, she started bleeding again after you handed her to me." Yumi commented, worry in her eyes. "To think they would try to use a girl in her condition to pilot . . . Its . . . Just so wrong."

Shinji shook his head. "Its my fault, I kept refusing because I wanted to see my father squirm and this girl nearly got hurt for it . . . I'm the one who has wronged her."

Yumi starred at Shinji as he chewed himself out. "I was selfish and . . ."

"No!" Yumi almost shouted before catching herself and saying it more quietly. "You wouldn't have acted like that if you'd known about her condition, I know you would never intentionally harm and innocent life Shinji Sama, I have faith in that." She took his hand and held it tight, it was surprising how soft her skin was, it was enough to make Shinji blush as she looked seriously into his eyes. "I trust you because you are my friend, and I tell you right now that I have faith in the fact that you are good and would not harm her or anyone else if you could help it."

Shinji bowed his head low, "You really think that?"

"I do."

He turned to her a smile on his face, "I'll try my best not to betray your faith in me Yu."

'You never have . . . Shinji . . . kun.' She thought only to herself.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Ikari, you know why we have summoned you . . . We want an answer for this Ikari!" The angry rasping voice of Keele Lorenze filled the room as the SEELE monoliths surrounded Gendo.

"I understand your anger, I did not expect this either it was not . . . Part of the Scenario . . ."

"Not part of it indeed, is that all you can say for yourself Ikari?" SEELE 04 butted in. "You allowed one of the Children to be significantly affected by an outside vector, this chain of events MUST be contained before it cascades out of control!" The voice sounded panicked even through the modulator.

Gendo hid a slight smirk, these old fools put too much faith in millennia old scripts and not enough in the hard facts. "I would like to point out that external operations are under the jurisdiction of your division." Gendo commented to SEELE 04. "But not to assign blame, I believe none of us could have predicted the existence of a fourth party in this scenario."

"Fourth, Ikari?" SEELE 01, Keele Lorenze asked, "What makes you say this is the Fourth."

"SEELE, NERV, and the UN, though they cannot stop the EVA's they are still viable threat, now we have another force not known to us until just hours ago. This MESSIAH."

"Yes, they could be a significant threat." SEELE 02 chimed in, "Do you have any plans to neutralize them?"

"Information on there abilities and displacement is virtually non existent at the moment. At this time it would be foolish to make any plans."

"Good god man, just pump the boy and the little bitch for the information!" SEELE 07 snarled bluntly, he was the muscle of the organization, in real life he was a high ranking member of the Russian Mofia who lent the firepower of a private army to SEELE's cause, he was smart enough to use diplomacy to get past the glass sealing of gang lord, but not wielding quite enough finesse to make it in things like politics.

"That would likely be futile, Shinji and Miss Toyama are most likely prepared for such an eventuality. Building tolerances to truth serums is a relatively simple process that any organization would be able to do and voice stress measurements are too unreliable for any accurate information to be retrieved, and of course there is the simple precaution on the side of MESSIAH of only giving them need to know information."

Gendo explained, "Harming them would only cause more damage, it would in fact be to our benefit to let them do as they please for now."

There was long silence before the council erupted in rage. "Ikari, that is absolutely unacceptable as you should be well aware!" SEELE 01 said anger evident in the voice.

"I would normally agree, but given the circumstances please consider the situation. SEELE has done its best to hide itself in the shadows, to run silently. Unfortunately with that kind of anonymous activity comes a certain amount of situational blindness. We never considered the possibility of this factor and so never searched for it . . . Now though MESSIAH has revealed itself, and with it exposed in the open we will be able to at very least keep an eye on them."

There was another long silence, this time of deliberation.

"Very well Ikari." SEELE 01 finally agreed. "You are to draw MESSIAH out, cooperate with them to whatever degree is practical, we must find the extent of this infestation so that we may eliminate it root and branch."

"Of course."

"We are trusting in you Ikari", SEELE 03 added.

"Do not prove our trust misplaced." SEELE 07 threatened. One by one the monoliths faded out leaving on Gendo and SEELE 01.

A holographic image played between them, a replay of the battle between Sachiel and the white armored Mark Strife. "Another organization with weapons that Rival the Angels and Evangelions? And you are certain it is not a clone of the mother or father?"

Gendo pushed his glasses up slightly, "Nothing can be ruled out as we have not yet been able to exam the machine, but I do not believe it is even related to the Angels. No AT field was manifested . . . And it has manifested abilities that no AT field should be capable of. You have seen the hangar footage I presume."

"Indeed." Keele replied, that had been part of Ikari's preliminary report.

"We believe it folded space to achieve that, this suggests the possibility that MESSIAH is far ahead of us in terms of technological development."

"Impossible!"

"No, just very unlikely."

Keele composed himself behind the impenetrable mask of his holographic monolith. "I see . . . Ikari, this factor must be neutralized, we will need to move the time scales up if we are to have the Mass Production Units ready."

"Are you so certain they will be required?" Gendo asked, betraying none of his own thoughts on the issue.

"I believe it was you who has pointed out the importance of adaptation Ikari, for now, we will send Unit 02 and the Second Child as planned, and will move up the completion dates of the Mass Production units 05, 06, and 09. We will require the dummy plug data three months ahead of schedule."

Gendo nodded sagely, "You will have it, though I can not guarantee the programs stability at that time . . ."

"We could not ask that of you." Keele admitted, "But we have little time left Ikari, the ceremony approaches." The last SEELE monolith faded leaving Gendo in darkness.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei Ayanami blinked a few times as she starred up at the ceiling. 'The replacement pilot must have been useable after all . . .' Her nose twitched slightly, something didn't feel right. She rolled her good eye around to observe her surroundings. She was greeted by the plain white walls of a hospital room. 'Unsurprising', she thought as the dull aching came back to her. Her entire back ached, her shoulders were stiff and sore, her stomach was on fire, the S2 core that resided within her lower abdomen was at its full potential healing the damage she had sustained from Unit 00's failed activation tests.

She froze as her eye came across the first aberration, she began to dissect it fully. It was a plain card, like the ones she had seen people bring for other patience. It was adorned by two grossly distorted caricatures, one of Unit 01, and one of herself in her plugsuit. It was perhaps one of the strangest things she had seen.

"Hay, Your awake" A female voice commented from just outside of her field of view. The voices owner appeared above her a moment later. 'Who is she?' Rei did not say anything as the girl studied her for a moment and then turned to the card on the table. "What do you think?" She asked holding the card up so Rei could see it better.

". . ."

The girl cocked her head and looked right at Rei, revealing her own gray/blue eyes, and . . . The impossible four pointed starbursts of black where a normal person would have round retinas.

Rei kept starring, not saying anything. "Aren't you going to tell me what you think of it?" The girl asked worried.

Rei finally responded, "They . . . Are disproportioned."

The girl blinked and then grinned, "Well of course that's the point!"

Rei shifted a little in the bed frowning slightly.

"Why?"

The girl blinked tilting her head quizzically, "Your not joking?"

"I do not joke . . . Who are you and why are you here?" Rei finally asked, shaking her head muzzily she was still under the influence of the pain killers which slowed her thought processes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I should have introduced myself." The girl snapped to her feet, bowing deeply with locks of her near waste length bubblegum pink hair falling over her face in a messy tangle.

"I am Ensign Yumi Toyama, operative of MESSIAH, and designated pilot of the Mark Ziel, a pleasure to meet you Miss Rei Ayanami! As for why I am here, its because Shinji Sama asked me to keep an eye on you, he was called away again to meet with the members of the NERV staff after he defeated the monster."

'Shinji . . . The Commander's son, the Third Child, pilot Ikari must have changed his mind and decided to pilot . . . I remember a little, the debris . . .' She though distantly, but her memory grew blurry right after hearing a shouted warning.

"I see . . ." Rei finally commented before shifting to fall asleep again.

Yumi nodded as she noted the way Rei had started to doze off, she must still have been exhausted. Yumi sighed as she heard the other girls breathing take on a deep steady rhythm. 'Poor girl.' She looked at the card she had left on the table. 'They are disproportioned . . .'

She took out her paper and pencil and began sketching again this time with much more care. 'So . . . Rei doesn't like caricatures lets try Manga.'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"You gotta admit, that thing is definitely impressive." Misato commented as the Mark Strife was brought to rest in a temporary hangar space made out of the one maintenance divisions warehouses. They couldn't very well park it in the EVA cages, especially with it unable to mate with a standard lift.

"It's a black box, Ritsuko responded as she stood beside her old friend. You saw what it did in the EVA cage I don't even know where to begin on that little trick . . ."

Misato grinned weekly, "Oh, I think your just angry that it frightened you so bad." She chided, then again Misato had quite nearly wet herself when the machine had just emerged, the whole appearance had just defied reality, it came out of the wall without so much as a ripple of disturbance to mark its passing, accept of course the damaged lift cage for Unit 01 that it had displaced in its emergence and drop into the coolant, not to mention the mass of ruined catwalks that had been unable to support its impressive weight.

They both observed as Shinji emerged from the cockpit and stepped out on a catwalk, he worked his way down and toward them over the next several minutes.

"What do you think of Shinji?" Misato asked.

"Right now? Not much I'm more interested in the Mark Strife." Ritsuko replied, she was rather angry that Shinji had so far refused to lower the Strife's automated defenses, not allowing anyone to exam it closely. "You'll have to let us near it eventually Shinji this is our base!" Ritsuko had shouted angrily.

"And I wonder how long you'll have funding when the UN military find out that the Angel wasn't defeated by one of your machines." Shinji had replied.

That had been enough to make Ritsuko blanch. "You know that comment may be why he's being so cautious around you, he may be afraid you'll try to sabotage it." Misato said, half joking and half serious. She new how ruthless Ritsuko was willing to be at times, and the bottle blond scientist could be . . . Vindictive.

"Hello again ladies." Shinji said with a smile as he came up to them, hands in pockets, his silver trimmed jacket draped over his shoulders.

"So . . . Any ideas on the plan from here?"

"Well, I think the Commander is going to want to be put in contact with MESSIAH so we can start coordinating our actions to defend against the angels."

Shinji nodded, "That won't be much of a problem, I have to phone in a report anyways and this will not have gone unnoticed by MESSIAH, hell I suspect my bosses knew this was going to happen." Shinji said, a 'hey what can you do' expression crossing his face.

"That's good." Misato agreed.

"For now however as the ranking MESSIAH operative I represent MESSIAH interest in Tokyo-3 and . . . HEY HANDS OFF!" Shinji shouted at a couple of technician who been getting a bit too close to the Mark Strife.

" . . . And will be acting to set policy until High Command can send an officer from the Operators Corp to handle liaison duty." Shinji finished.

"So, when can we expect a response from your bosses?"

Shinji shifted studying the lights high above for a moment, "Hmmm, I'd say about two days, three at tops until a maintenance team can be sent out with enough equipment to handle M&R on the Mark Strife, another week to get enough equipment in to handle repair on both the Mark Strife and Mark Ziel, and two weeks to have a detachment of security forces and a Command Cadre briefed and brought in.

For now we'll have to make do with your Unit 01, and my Mark Strife, if things get too hot we can call in the Mark Ziel as well, but Yumi isn't ready for field combat yet in my opinion."

"Sounds like a plan, now you just have to dress it up for your dad . . ." Misato was cut off.

"The Commander." Shinji stressed with a slight coldness.

" . . . for the Commander so it sounds more like a briefing for the staff meeting this evening." Misato finished.

"Yeah, I can do that." Shinji agreed before yawning, "Man I'm beat, and I'm guessing Yumi will be staying at least for the immediate future, is there anyplace we can bunk down ?"

"Well, I think it would be best if you accepted residence in one of the NERV barracks." Ritsuko suggested, "But really its up to the Commander where you end up staying."

"I guessed as much, damn I'm already missing my Sensei, curse his wrinkled ass, at least I knew where I'd be sleeping at the end of the day."

Misato and Ritsuko just blinked and left that at that.

Shinji walked past whistling to himself as he went, 'I wonder . . .' Shinji became distracted as he thought, 'Why does this rub me the wrong way? I'll have to have Strife peek in NERV's data files, see what I can see.' He kept whistling to himself all the way back to the hospital, pocketing his new NERV ID card as he walked with an easy grace from seven years of sparring, more importantly, seven years of sparring with Yumi as his opponent. She restrained herself a lot in their matches, that didn't mean much when he considered just how strong she was.

The walk was fairly uneventful, the NERV hospital was connected to the facility so he didn't have to head outside. He nodded cordially as he passed a few medics. One of them froze . . . It was the guy Shinji had nailed with the stun baton. He simply gave the man a nod and kept on his way not turning to see him rush down the hall.

He rounded the last corner and found Yumi standing out in the hallway, facing the door to Rei's hospital room. Two of the black suits that seemed to be security operatives around here stood flanking the door. Judging by their body posture they were packing something a bit heavier then handguns beneath those coats. Though nothing they had could have much affect on Yumi, or Shinji for that matter. He'd had the good sense to have a layer of ballistic cloth and tight weave Kevlar placed in his jacket lining, it would stop most small caliber bullets, at least the first time.

'Don't get hit, bullet proof just means you aren't guaranteed to need a new lung.' He reminded himself.

"What going on?" He asked Yumi.

"The Commander came along and kicked me out. I guess he wanted to talk to Rei alone."

"Wonder why?" Shinji thought about it, what could that girl want with his father?

"Maybe he just cares about her?" Yumi suggested, meeting Shinji's cold glare.

"That bastard doesn't give a flying fuck about anyone Yu, I think I've made my position clear."

Yumi backed away slightly at the venom dripping from her friends voice. "I was just suggesting it Shinji sama, after all your father can't be that bad he is a protector and ally of justice after all." She pointed out.

Shinji shook his head, "Yu . . . People aren't always like that." Shinji warned gently, Yumi lived with a very two dimensional black and white perception of the world, it made her rather innocent, but also a bit too trusting at times.

"I know", she admitted, and she did . . . On an intellectual level, emotionally . . .

Shinji stood at her side staring at the door, 'Wonder what their talking about.'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei watched the replay of events again on the small video monitor the Commander had placed on her bedside. "This machine appears very formidable." Rei commented, mostly because the Commander expected it of her. That fact was self evident. "Indeed." Gendo agreed as he watched the footage begin to repeat again.

"The engagement lasted a total of thirty two seconds, during which the third angel was totally unable to counter attack . . . And . . . As you have seen the Mark Strife was able to degrade the AT field with brute force, though we believe after studying sensor data that it may have projected a powerful barrier to put continuous pressure on the AT field. This allowed it to disrupt the field by not giving the phase space a chance to reintegrate between strikes."

Gendo repeated Ritsuko's theory on how the machine had achieved its impossible victory without an AT field.

"I see . . . Will there be any changes to the schedule due to this series of events?" Rei asked mildly curious.

Gendo nodded an affirmative, "For the time being you will begin activation tests with Unit 01 instead of Unit 00 once you have recovered, we will also be increasing the number of harmonics tests. I would advise moving you to one of the NERV dormitories."

"Understood." Rei replied.

"Very good."

Rei starred at the image as it played again, she felt vaguely uneasy, the sinewy grace, the solid blue eyes, the smooth rounded lines that somehow made the machine seem both deadly and yet graceful. Some small part of her, the kernel of self around which her soul had been created felt like it had seen this before. It made her vaguely uneasy, she rubbed at her side as if expecting something to be protruding from herself.

Gendo noted her discomfort and closed the small console. "For now, just rest Rei, we will begin activation tests with Unit 01 next week.

"Yes Sir." Rei replied quietly as the Commander pushed up her pillow for her, he was always so kind to her, she felt she couldn't have a better Guardian, what more could she ask for? She was asleep in moments, her bodies energy reserves were still strained as she recovered.

Gendo wondered what Rei's discomfort had been from, perhaps he would have to ask her. As he opened the door he was met with the girl, and his son, both stood quietly opposite him, Shinji studying the Section Two agents thoughtfully.

"Hey Gendo, so nice to see you again." Shinji commented coldly.

"Why are you here?"

"I came to see Rei, she seems like a sweet kid, only mistake is getting stuck working for you. Though that's nearly an unforgivable sin in its own right."

Gendo ignored the insult. "Pilot Ayanami is resting now and must not be disturbed, you will be seeing her soon enough if you choose to stay . . ."

Shinji shrugged, it seemed to be his way. "Fine, though I don't know where me and Yumi will be staying."

Gendo pushed his glasses up slightly, "I will arrange for you to stay with Major Katsuragi, her apartment has two extra room."

That would be the best place to lodge Shinji, outside of the GeoFront so he wouldn't have an excuse to be at the facility at all times, and under the supervision of the NERV operations director. It was the best compromise that could be thought of.

It had occurred to Gendo to simply imprison Shinji but he had no clue what that machine of his was capable of, Doctor Akagi was still trying to think up ways to disable it but with no clues to go on about even something so basic as its programming language and OS there was nothing to go on for a virus and it was doubtless powerful enough to engage anything less then an EVA with nothing less then contemptible ease.

'Somebody selected Shinji for a reason', Gendo decided, 'This was meant as a message to me . . . The Colonel . . . He is dead, it can't be . . .'

"Have your report for the staff meeting this evening, dismissed Lieutenant." Gendo addressed Shinji by his claimed rank, at the moment it seemed appropriate to enforce a hierarchy.

"By your leave Commander." Shinji bowed slightly, Yumi emulated him and fallowed her superior and sempai down the hallway.

"I suppose we should go find Misato and give her the good news that she's going to have room mates . . . Hmmm . . . I wonder if she'll let us have a moving in party?" Shinji wondered distantly.

Yumi cocked her head, "Why would you need a party for moving in?" Yumi asked cheerfully, she'd never lived at more then one place in her life. The apartment she shared with her adoptive mother was all the home Yumi had ever needed.

"Its . . . Just something you do, to make your first memory in a new home a good one." Shinji replied, "I think its important to have positive memories about a place, those memories are part of what makes a house a home."

"What's the other part?" Yumi asked.

Shinji stopped to wait for an elevator, remaining silent until the doors opened. "Love."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"WHAT!" Misato Shouted as she confirmed with Ritsuko the information that the GeoFront's latest employee had just told her.

"Yes, the Commander approved it, neither of them want to live together and well, the Commander though it best that a trust worthy member of the Command staff keep an eye on him." Ritsuko explained over the phone, she was almost enjoying this . . . Almost.

"But you know my apartments a wreck!" Misato countered, she didn't particularly care about the condition of her home but she would take any excuse the could to avoid having something like this forced on her. Not that she had anything against Shinji but he seemed ready to take care of himself . . . Who was she kidding he was still a kid, she sighed, "And what about Yumi, what are we supposed to do with her?" Misato asked.

"For now, nothing, she will be enrolled with Shinji in school, and act as a back up pilot for the Mark Strife, with any luck we can convince Shinji to go through activation tests with Unit-01, but considering his behavior and attitude it looks like we may be forced to do them with Rei instead." Ritsuko explained.

"Can Rei even activate it?" Misato asked eyes widening, "I thought you said the probability was almost zero."

"Both the Commander and I have faith in her ability to do it. It is in a way fortunate as it gives us two combatants right from the start. So it kind of makes up for the failed activation tests with Unit-00."

Misato frowned, "Yeah maybe, but I don't think we deserve this kind of good carma, there's got to be a downside."

"We can deal with that when we come to it."

Misato bowed her head, "Fine, well I'm going to go get Shinji and Yumi settled, I think we all need to get cleaned up before the meeting tonight, the UN is even sending Officials, we have to look our best."

"Ok, see you then Misato, please be sure you're sober for the mee . . ." Misato cut the line with a sigh.

She looked over at her two new roommates, "So, you guys want to go get something to eat?"

Yumi nodded, "I'm starving, but I don't know if I can stay on my feet long enough to get something to eat." She said as she yawned. "Maybe we should just get take out and then go someplace where we can get some sleep." She continued eyes drooping.

"I indorse this service and or product", Shinji mumbled sleepily before falling into something similar to a shuffle behind Yumi and Misato allowing his friend to guide him as they headed back to Misato's car, he was sleeping as soon as he sat down, snoring softly.

Misato glanced back slightly surprised.

"Don't worry, he's just tired, Shinji can sleep anywhere when he's exhausted like that . . ." Yumi said grinning.

"It's ok, we'll just grab take out and he can eat leftovers when he wakes up." Misato drove her Renault Alpine back onto the car elevator.

"So how long have you known Shinji?"

"Hmmmm, I'd say since he was seven or eight."

"So you guys are good friends."

"Yep, I'm Shinji's friend an ally of Justice!"

Misato blinked at the girls demeanor, she seemed to honestly believe that line. 'Its good to know there are still kids like that.' Misato thought as Yumi began to ooh and aw at the GeoFront on the ride back up to the surface.

"Hmmm, what kind of person do you think Shinji is?" Misato continued asking, if she was going to live with these kids she might as well know a bit about them.

Yumi seemed to think hard about that. "Shinji sama is . . . Very brave, overly brave maybe he would rather hurt himself then see others in pain and he acts a little foolish at times . . . But he's a good person and he never lets a person down if he can help it, he'll do everything to help his friends." Yumi explained, "But I keep thinking . . . its like everyone is born with a weight . . ."

"A weight?" Misato asked curiously as the girl continued with her analogy.

"Exactly, a weight, and this weight is all the bad that makes up the hatred and sadness in your life. To me . . . It seems like Shinji wants to take all that weight off of everyone else and carry it on his own shoulders . . . But he can't, and he'll only hurt himself if he does. But he'll try anyways . . . I'm worried for him that he'll break under it all."

Misato looked at the girl she had previously classified as a ditz she was still looking out the window at the GeoFront as they ascended but she seemed considerably more subdued.

'There's more beneath the surface with these two.' She thought.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"This is it, I'm sorry if it's a little messy . . . Well this will be you home for now, so welcome home" Misato said smiling softly as she hit the light switch. Yumi's eyes goggled.

"This is a little messy?" She asked in a small voice as she came through the door half supporting Shinji in his sleep. It was early afternoon and they still had about five hours before they had to be back at the GeoFront for the meeting. "Does NERV by any chance have a HazMat team?": Yumi asked.

"I think so, why?" Misato asked as she started pushing beer cans, old take out boxes, and less mentionables from the table to make room for the take out.

"You need to have this place decontaminated it must be a biohazard to the entire surrounding area." Yumi replied.

Misato huffed indignantly at the jab at her cleaning skills. "Well, it's not like I'm home enough to clean . . . And . . . Yeah."

Yumi carried Shinji down the hall finding the two unused bedrooms blissfully clean she worked a futon out of the hall closet with her free arm, set it out in one of the rooms and laid Shinji out on it as he continued to snore.

She went back to get something to eat and ran headfirst into the apartments other residents. She blinked before looking down to stare into the face of a rather curious looking penguin.

She guffawed slightly at the site. "How cute!" She kneeled down to stroke the birds plumage.

PenPen warked at the odd girl, shook his head furiously causing his feathers to stand on end and proceeded down the hall to the bathroom.

"That's PenPen, he's one of those new hot springs penguins." Misato explained when Yumi asked about it. "I'm sorry its all take out I hope that's okay with you."

"No that's fine with me." Yumi replied as she dug into the food. Her mother had rarely had a chance to be home and cook and with the exception of nights when she'd eaten with Shinji and his Sensei she had never really had a home cooked meal. Both of them finished there food quickly so they could go get at least a little sleep. "When we get back later I'll clean up." Yumi told Misato as she went into the second bedroom with another spare futon.

"Sounds good." Misato agreed as she continued on towards her own room.

They both got a good four hours of sleep, which was better then either could have hoped for under the circumstances, before they were awoken by a shout from down the hall.

Yumi blinked as she popped her head back out, Misato waking blearily did the same as Shinji came leaping from the room Yumi had left him in.

"What's wrong Shinji sama?"

"Pe-Pe . . ." PenPen waddled out of the room, stared at Shinji for a moment and then continued back to his fridge.

Misato, even groggy laughed at the scene and introduced Shinji to PenPen, "Don't worry he's harmless." She added.

"He bit my nose." Shinji replied coldly.

"Wait, what time is it . . ." Misato glanced at her watch, "Damnit, Shinji go eat, the leftovers are in the fridge, both of you take a shower quick and put on some good clothes we need to be back in less then an hour!" Misato ran by the two children grabbing a bear on from the fridge and downing it for a slight pick me up.

"You go first Yu, I'll go grab my bag, I think I have a spare uniform for you too." He added as he headed to the door. Yumi nodded, accepting the first chance in the tub.

Misato called up Ritsuko to confirm the meeting time and place, the last thin she needed was to end up late to something like this. "And be sure to bring your preliminary report on the Readiness situation, of the intercept grid."

"Why exactly are we having this meeting again?" Misato asked, she heard heavy equipment in the background, it sounded like Ritsuko was at the sight where they were studying the remains of the Angel.

"The UN wants to know what the hell beat the crap out the Angel, they do seem to realize it wasn't an EVA. This is just the old warriors saber rattling after they couldn't handle the situation themselves, nothing to worry about."

"Ok, we'll be there soon, and that reminds me can you be sure to have Shinji's possessions brought to my place I'd rather not leave them lying in storage someplace."

"Don't worry that's already been taken care of, his things will have arrived by the time you get back."

"Thanks Ritz, see you in a thirty."

Misato placed the phone back in its cradle. "How do I look?" Shinji asked from behind her.

She turned, and her jaw almost dropped, the uniform he wore was elaborate, and more then a little graceful.

It was black with red running along the cuffs, on the shoulders, and down the front following the line of the buttons with silver trim bordering. The over shirt came down a little bellow the waist giving him a tall slender appearance, his hair was combed and he held an officer's cap in the crook of his arm. The silver bars of a Lieutenant were the only adornment to the otherwise simple yet striking ensemble.

"It looks nice." Misato said impressed, he looked the picture of an officer, if far to young, but there was something about him, like he could handle the responsibility. It made the clothes suit him rather then seem ridiculous. The same could not quite be said for Yumi.

The female version of the uniform retained the same color scheme but seemed more akin to Misato's own dress uniform by far then Shinji's did its male equivalent. The problem was that no matter how it was tailored on her Yumi was still a kid, and though she wasn't exactly lacking in proportions her figure hadn't really filled out yet either. Her own uniform despite fitting well still seemed to be half a size too big.

Her own dress cap sat a slightly off angle on her head as she saluted smartly.

"Cadet Yumi Toyama reporting ma'am." She said seriously.

Shinji smiled and saluted as well, "Lieutenant Junior Grad Shinji Ikari Reporting as well Ma'am."

Misato gave them both a salute as she grinned, "At ease." She said as she looked them both over, "Nice uniforms. You packed one for Yumi too?"

Shinji shrugged, "Well yeah, I figured she might end up hanging around for a while so I thought it best to pack for her too." He explained as Misato went to put on her own uniform. "We'll wait in the car be quick."

"Don't worry Shinji, I'll be right out just don't peak." Misato teased. She supposed she could live with these two they seemed like nice kids.

Within ten minutes they were back in the car and learned that Misato drove fast regardless of the threat level. "You know when you drive slower you get better gas mileage." Shinji noted as he gripped the door white knuckled.

"Oh this isn't that bad." Misato replied as she accelerated down the early evening streets.

"Yeah, easy for you to say you're the one in control." Shinji retorted as they veered back into the NERV facility and proceeded down, this time using a conventional elevator.

They arrived at the appropriate conference room with minutes to spare and quietly took seats in the second tier.

"Oh, Lieutenant Ikari", one of the NERV workers addressed him. "The UN representatives would like to hear your impressions on the situation, and would like a preliminary debriefing on the MESSIAH, if that isn't too much trouble."

Shinji nodded to the brown haired woman noting the bars on her uniform, "That would be no trouble, Lieutenant . . ."

"Ibuki, Maya Ibuki." The woman provided. "Thank you, Lieutenant Ibuki. I'd be happy to inform them of anything that's not classified."

The woman nodded before heading back up to the third tier seats, saying something to Doctor Akagi and a gray haired man with a big nose that reminded Shinji for some reason of an old bird. The room became hushed as the UN representatives, a General and two Colonels arrived. The rooms lighting dimmed and a projector at its center showed the NERV logo suspended in the air. Gods in his heaven, alls right with the world.

Commander Ikari appeared in a solitary fourth tier seat above everyone else. 'Stroking your own ego, Gendo.' Shinji thought with a little disgust.

"This meeting has been called between the UN command staff and NERV to consider the current situation after the defeat of the Third Angel, as such all parties will be given a chance to speak. Including representatives from the UN and the MESSIAH representative Lieutenant Ikari." Gendo announced coldly, there was nothing to do no but go by the book and see what could be salvaged and what would have to be changed.

"The first briefing of the evening will be undertaken by Lieutenant Ikari to familiarize us with the operational parameters of MESSIAH's Mark Strife, as well as familiarization with MESSIAH itself."

Shinji stood quietly, "Of course, Sir." The three UN representatives however reacted rather negatively.

"Is this is some kind of joke Ikari?" Colonel Melborn, the UN man who had earlier been derogatory to Gendo now turned to tear into Shinji. "Sit down kid and leave this discussion to the adults."

Shinji glared at him quietly before speaking. "How did you become a Colonel, Sir?"

The man glanced as Shinji, the room remained quiet listening to what came next. "What?"

"If I remember correctly your insignia is that of a Colonel in the UN correct, how did you achieve that rank?"

"Listen you little shit, I've seen thirty four years of service. I will not listen to some child, I demand to be briefed by a proper Officer, or representative not the Commander's son playing soldier."

The two other UN officers said nothing as they watched, General Yamada chose not to get involved, he had the experience to sense the hardness in the younger Ikari, this child had not yet seen the brutality of soldier to soldier combat, but he was far from a normal child.

Colonel Melborn finished his little speech with a slight huff. "Again Colonel I ask you, what section of the Service were you in to attain the rank of Colonel?"

The man finally relented and answered, "I served for twenty five years on the front lines, including clean up operations immediately after second impact."

"I see, then you have no excuse for acting like an idiot and a prick." Shinji replied quietly.

"WHAT!" Melborn roared rising from his seat. "I WILL NOT TAKING THIS DISRESPECT FORM AN ARROGANT LITTLE FUCK, I AM AN OFFICER OF THE UN!" The other two UN officials restrained there angered comrade.

"And I am an Operative of MESSIAH, if you acknowledge its existence then you should respect my rank of Lieutenant, so far however you have done nothing but sully the uniform you wear at this moment. If you want to receive respect then acted in a way befitting a Colonel of the United Nations."

"He's right Andrew," Yamada finally spoke. "The Lieutenant is the only one here with any right to represent MESSIAH and we can't deny the existence of this organization with one of their weapon systems sitting right beneath our very feet." Yamada turned back to Shinji.

"If you would lieutenant please continue with your report."

Shinji bowed his head slightly, "Thank you."

The proceedings took most of the evening.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The silver haired man turned back to his companion, they both stood upon a walkway over a vast expanse shrouded in darkness at this late evening. It was called the Hangar, for there was only one. And it was where giants slept.

"My contacts tell me Shinji has made quite a splash with the UN."

"It doesn't surprise me." The woman replied brushing a strand of raven black hair from her slimface and adjusting her horn rimmed glasses. "ThoughI am concerned for him, he's already sent a request for a maitenance and security detachment to be sent immediately. We can send a technical crew but I can't say I'd feel good about sending any of our security personnel."

"Its not your choice." The man replied.

"But sir!"

"We will send the third detachment with Operative Captain Tanaka in charge."

"Are you sure you wan't to send Tanaka and Rico though, they are . . . emotionally involved with both children, that is why they were reasigned."

"Perhaps but that is why we need them now, you know as well as I that man will not survive if our sole answer to a problem is wether we can kill it first. Sometimes love lets you do something that is not expected."

"Thats sounds risky."

"If you're so worried why not go, I'm sure it would make Yumi happy."

The woman shook her head, "I . . .Don't think I can face her right now."

"I see. Remember,you took her in, she learned from you, and still looks up to you. I assume you love her as much as she loves you."

"I . . . I wish I could be sure, I think I do but, I don't know if Ican love as much as she can."

The man smiled. "Remember, no matter what, mancan learn to havean infinite capacityto love and be loved in return, its what makes us despite all of ourflaws and frailties better then them."

"Do you believe that?"

"I do. She taught me that, and even after she chose him I didn't feel bitter. I suppose it iswhy . . .I could love her son in his fathers place."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

That's it for Chapter Two, coming up, Shinji learns a hard lesson about war, Rei finally has her first meeting with Shinji, and why Yumi continually referred to as being so strong are all explained next chapter. Operative in maidens clothing.


	3. An Operative in Maidens Clothing

Chapter Three: An Operative in Maidens Clothing

"Ok, now lets retry grid sensors, one-eight-eight through two-five-owe." Shinji muttered through his teeth as he held a stylice in his mouth, a hand held computer in one hand, and a multi tool in another. Nominally the Mark Strife was capable of limited self repair. If could even break down and re-extrude its internal armor, drastically cutting down on maintenance if the armor plates were damaged but salvageable. Of course this still left plenty of things that had to be calibrated. Again the Strife was capable of self calibration on just about everything.

With the exception of the diver pod Shinji sat in right now, hanging upside down with his legs hooked over the lip of the pods entry hatch.

-Acknowledgement-

"Hmmm? Ok their good, now please continue and run the last two batches through that same testing sequence." There was a strange glitch with one of the Strife's sensors that had bothered him recently, he was pretty sure it wasn't a hack attack though he wouldn't put it past Ritsuko to try. Fortunately however the Strife was immune to such subversion, the basic programming was hardwired into its optical processors, and its core. Nothing was going to subvert the Mark Strife without completely replacing the computer system.

No whatever the glitch was had something to do with the head hydraulics, it wasn't a big problem, probably just interference but it wasn't wise to let problems like this accumulate.

"What do you think of Ayanami?" He asked the Strife to pass the time.

-Unsure, Curious-

"Doesn't tell me much, like do think she's a good kid."

-Unsure-

"Is that all you can say about her."

-Confirmation, for the moment-

"So you don't know enough about her is what your saying."

-Confirmation-

"Hmmm", Shinji chuckled slightly, "I think she's kind of cute."

-Annoyance-

"Well you don't have to think about continuing your family lineage, I at least think my mom's side of the family deserves to continue on. Though I might never have kids just so my father doesn't have any heirs."

-Agreement, coldness- Neither of them liked Gendo, the Mark Strife had been bonded with Shinji for its entire existence, and Shinji's less than warm feelings for his father had rubbed off on the titanic war machine.

Shinji sensed as the Strife became occupied with something else. "Hmmm?"

"Lieutenant Ikari." A soft voice stated, from above him on the catwalk. Shinji glance up through the open diver pod hatch and fell straight into the seat beneath him in surprise, as Rei Ayanami looked down at him.

He cursed as he landed awkwardly in the seat, rubbing his back where he had run into arm rest before glancing back up. "Don't scare a person like that." He grunted as he climbed back out of the pod. Shinji was a bit surprised, other then being pretty badly banged up, Rei didn't look nearly as bad as she had just two days ago.'Maybe shewasn't as bad off as Yumi thought . . .' Or perhaps NERV's medical technology was just that good . . .

"So what did you want Rei?" Shinji asked. Crossing his legs as he sat on top of the pod. The Strife was still intensely distracted, as if was paying a lot of attention to Rei.

Rei looked the machine over, "Captain Katsuragi ordered me to come here and observe you." She replied honestly, there was no reason to lie.

Shinji sighed, Misato seemed to be pretty paranoid about things, she was a nice woman, and the they did seem to get along well he could tell she wanted to care. But she was also being extremely paranoid . . . Then again in her position he would be too.

Shinji watched as Rei's attention was fixed again on the armored face of the Strife. The diver pod sat in the upper chest and slid into a position directly beneath the head for combat. When the pod sat in its decanted position one could touch the Strife's lower face.

Rei did so now, placing one palm flat against the armor while standing on the catwalk next to the pod, it was smooth, with a curious thrumming life to it, much like an EVA. But it felt different too . . . She couldn't place it but this was most definitely not anything like an EVA.

"You have an affinity for machines."

Rei turned to face him, head cocked.

Shinji smiled, "That look on your face, you were concentrating on the vibrations inside."

"I do not understand." Rei replied.

Shinji shrugged, "Fine, oh can you stand away from that hydraulic release."

"There is no hydraulics beneath the armor here." Rei said frowning.

Shinji grinned, "This is what I meant, you felt out the vibrations from the hydraulics inside the head, only people I know who can do that are real gear head prodigies and some blind people, even I can't tell that much by feel."

Rei blinked, it didn't seem odd to her. She had been able to do such things as long as she could remember. "Say, would you like to see the inside of the pod?" Shinji asked.

Rei considered for a moment, the Commander had told her not to turn down any opportunity to gather information on the Mark Strife. She nodded quietly.

Shinji held out a hand helping Rei onto the top of the pod and keeping a firm grip on her arm as she stepped over to the hatch, the last thing he wanted was for her to lose her balance, especially with one eye still covered over and one arm in a sling. If she slipped she could very well have ended up taking the express trip to the floor far below.

He helped her lower herself down inside trying not to squeeze to tightly on her injured arm, she stood on the chair as Shinji dropped in behind her.

The pod itself was much different from an EVA plug. Where a Plug was cylindrical the Strife's pod was spherical with the pilots seat sitting at the center, suspended on some kind of shock absorber system.

Shinji hit a few keys on the keyboard set between the butterfly control sticks, the spheres inner surface lit up and the environment outside the machine from the perspective of the Strife's head came into being.

"Here, you can take the seat." Shinji offered standing beside Rei. He frowned as the Strife's distraction became more intense, he decided to play a hunch. "Rei, do you feel anything?"

Rei looked at him, "What do you mean Lieutenant . . ."

"Can you feel another presence in here?" He asked.

Rei lowered her head in concentration, "There is something here . . ." Rei said, "I can feel it . . ." Her eyes bugged and she started shacking.

"What's wrong!" Shinji asked concerned. Rei continued to squirm not saying anything but her breathing grew quick and ragged. "Shit." Shinji cursed as he restrained her, she started gagging slightly as she continued to convulse. He typed a command string into the system one handed and cursed when he saw what was wrong.

He turned to Rei, "Rei, REI" he shouted angrily. "Don't fight it, just let it touch you it won't hurt you!"

The albino girl wasn't listening as she continued to shake, Shinji gave up on riding it out and physically yanked her from the seat. He overestimated her weight and ended up pulling her out and down on top of him as he fell back against the side of the pad and slid to a laying position beside the seat.

Rei snapped out of the convulsions immediately, her breathing recovered slowly over the next two or three minutes.

She stared into his eyes, she actually seemed . . . Angry at Shinji. "What did you do?" She asked, voice soft but angry.

"I didn't do anything, Rei. The Strife was trying to touch you, but you resisted." He explained. "If you hadn't you would have been fine."

Rei seemed somehow to be angry, it didn't show on her face, but in her eyes it was all too apparent.

She thought she understood after just that brief experience. This thing was too horrific for Rei to comprehend. Rei feared most of all being changed, she did not fear death, she feared discovering that she was a shell wrapped over the true soul of Rei Ayanami, she feared that she didn't truly exist. So Rei did her best to resist change, always fearing that these changes would reveal that she was false and snuff her from existence in some way more horrific then even her cursed life could prepare her for, she was afraid that she would be empty.

And this thing had almost changed her, it had tried to touch the most delicate recesses of her mind with its sickly hands, to destroy her. That was how Rei had seen the Strife's simple attempt to caress her.

"I would like to leave now." Rei stated softly.

Shinji nodded uncomfortably and helped her up the ladder to the pods upper surface, keeping a gentle grip on her as she worked her way up. He checked the small HUD suspended before the diver seat one more time to confirm what he had seen. It still read in small blue letters. **Viable Candidate.**

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Wow, so you think she can pilot a Mark Unit?" Yumi asked as she continued to lick at her ice cream later that day, she had met Shinji in a park near one of the GeoFront entrances, Shinji hadn't had much time to spend with her over the last two days, and they had decided to look around town together, the first chance they had had in some time.

"Yeah maybe." Shinji replied. "But . . . She'd need to learn to relax and let the Unit touch her mind or she might as well just be tossing herself into an electric chair, the cross interference was pretty bad from her resisting. Over sixty percent." Shinji explained.

"Sixty percent!" Yumi repeated in shock, "How could she generate so much cross interference, it sounds like she was terrified of having the Strife anywhere near her."

Shinji starred off into the distance nursing his iced coffee, "I think . . . She was . . . what could have happened to make her so afraid? The Strife was being gentle it wasn't trying to repel her at all, its like she knew what it was and was terrified that it was going to do something to her."

"Do you think she knows something?" Yumi asked.

"I think, _she_ thinks she knows something."

"I see . . . Ahhh" Yumi shouted as she saw her ice cream cone melting down her hand and sped her licking to keep pace.

Shinji smiled as they kept walking along the small footpath, the park was like any other, overly tended, a bit too regular in design, centered around an obviously artificial pond. A few young children sat playing in a sandbox along the path. Yumi smiled at them and their mothers. 'Such a sweet scene' She thought before turning to Shinji curious.

He was smiling at her. "What?"

"You really like kids, don't you." He observed.

She thought for a moment then nodded, "They're always so full of life, it makes me happy to watch them."

"Yeah . . ." Shinji agreed, he took another sip of his drink. "Do you think . . . When this is all over I mean, would you want to adopt a child?" He asked.

Yumi looked at him, she knew that he meant it as a simple question, not something to be read into. "Maybe . . ." Yumi thought, "Maybe one day I would like to adopt a child, I don't know yet if I would be able to do it though."

"I think you would Yumi . . . I think you'll make a great mother some day." She blushed a little at the comment.

"Thank you Shinji kun." She walked up ahead of him with a slight skip in her step, it took him a moment to realize what she had just said. He raced off to catch up, tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei sat quietly with the Commander in the back of the black Section Two car observing the passing scenery distantly.

"How was your encounter with Lieutenant Ikari?" He asked.

"It was . . . Troubling."

Gendo turned to look at Rei, and paused. She was shuddering softly. "What happened?" Gendo asked,

"The Mark Strife attempted to enter my mind, it tried to force me to bond with it." She whispered, she didn't add what truly frightened her. Rei could suppress the insane soul within Unit-00 but fighting the mind of the Strife had been impossible, the soul within an EVA's core were subject to certain limitations. The Strife was not, and it frightened her. That she could lose her individuality and be changed by it.

"I see . . . I want doctor Akagi to look you over as soon as we return to NERV, understood?"

"Yes sir", Rei replied submissively.

"Good."

The rest of the trip was left mostly in silence, Gendo wondered just how badly troubled Rei had been by whatever she had experienced. Still the experience may at least have provided useful information about the Mark Strife.

"I have another meeting with Lieutenant Ikari this tomorrow afternoon to discuss strategic deployment methods for his machine." Gendo Commented, gritting his teeth at the thought. The final decision of the UN was that NERV and MESSIAH would operate together against the Angels, to act as a further guarantee of success both sides would train and equip to support one another. It agitated Gendo to no end that his little prick of a son was not under his direct authority. But for the moment there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

"We will discuss this occurrence at that time." Gendo continued, placing on hand on Rei's shoulder, the girls eyes grew a little less distant in her reflection.

"Yes sir."

The car stopped before a foreign restaurant, Italian from the sign over the door.

Gendo got out first and helped Rei out. Rei frowned internally as she noted something odd, the Commander seemed to always make a show of anything he did for her to be certain she noticed it. Lieutenant Ikari on the other hand, had, in her encounter with him, done such things as if they only natural and not something to put any great emphasis on. What was his motive for acting thus?

Then again that wasn't the only thing that seemed strange about NERV's two latest arrivals. Shinji was constantly occupied doing calibration checks on the Strife while Yumi had been insistently bothering her. It wasn't that Yumi did anything hurtful, she simple wouldn't leave Rei alone. When she had been released from the hospital this morning she had been given a box of sugarless chocolates, one of the orderlies told her a girl with strange eyes had asked she be given them.

Then there were the constant good lucks and get well soons that the girl chimed off whenever she saw her which had been at least once every day since her arrival. She'd asked even today if Rei had wanted to go with her and Shinji to look around the city. Rei had turned the request down with the minimal amount of politeness she had been taught to show.

The bubble gum haired girl had seemed a bit let down by her refusal but had not bothered her about it. This left Rei in an odd position on how to classify her. Students at her school had tended to bully her when she refused such things, though they had thankfully stopped asking after the first few months. Yumi just seemed to politely accept that she didn't want to go and had left it at that.

Rei didn't like something that she couldn't classify, it was an unknown variable, it frightened her and made her move imperceptibly closer to the Commander. The Commander always knew what to do, no matter what he would always know the best course. That was the center of Rei's faith in him, the total essence of how much she believed in the man she all but worshipped as her creator and protector.

They entered the restaurant and took a seat near a window, both of them ordered quietly and then sat in a state of comfortable silence.

"You are ready for the Activation Tests?"

"Yes sir."

"We are confident Unit-01 will accept you."

"Yes sir."

"And your encounter with Miss Toyama today, what are your impressions of her."

Rei thought about it, she couldn't really tell what her impressions were. "I do not know, she defies classification."

Gendo glanced away from the window. "How so?"

"She attempts to involve me in her activities."

"Such as?"

"She has been present in my hospital room at least twice each day for the last two days, she acted strangely."

"How did she act?"

Rei thought about it for a few moments. "She read to me."

"What did she read to you?" Gendo asked, had the girl contaminated Rei's world view, no she didn't seem particularly bright.

"She read To Kill a Mockingbird, she completed the first four chapters."

"I see, disregard the girl she is of no concern."

"Yes sir . . . And Lieutenant Ikari?"

Gendo considered for a moment, "You will pay close attention to him he is still important to the scenario."

"Yes sir." For some reason Rei felt a strange sensation in her stomach, being near Shinji would most likely mean being near the Strife. 'I believe this is anxiety . . .' Rei thought as she shifted slightly in her seat. She wasn't looking forward to the near future, then Again Rei wasn't a person who could look forward to the distant future either.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Something that many people forgot about Tokyo-3 was that it wasn't just a massive fortress but in fact a fully functioning city with all of them essentials to be a such, including malls, public transit, and of course homes for the families of NERV employees and inevitably their children. Which meant of course that schools were also an important part of the infrastructure. Such as the Toyko-3 Junior High School which Shinji had the unfortunate privilege of now attending.

He and Yumi had gone through the normal rounds of introducing themselves to the class, Yumi being somewhat more energetic than Shinji the affair who now sat considering his situation with a certain strange girl. Rei was . . . to put It frankly the anti Yumi. 'But she's a viable candidate . . .' Shinji considered, if her could just get her to trust the Mark Strife then he could find out what she was capable of.

'But why did she resist it.' Shinji wondered, he'd never had any trouble with the Strife, it was actually kind of comforting, Yumi described it as being something like a mother's embrace when she was piloting the Mark Ziel.

Shinji really couldn't say from experience but it did feel like it was along those lines, the Mark Strife's sole concern was protecting its pilot, in a way it could be said it was his comrade.

In his preoccupation Shinji didn't notice the boy sitting nearby shooting a venomous look at him.

He glanced down curiously as a message appeared on his computer. He listened in on the teachers speech on Second Impact, decided he wasn't going to anything that wasn't already drilled into his head and opened the message box.

You're the one, right? Y/N.

Shinji frowned, he could only think of one thing they would be asking about but how could he be sure they didn't mean something else.

That depends on what you mean.

You're the pilot of that robot, right? Y/N

The message explained more clearly this time, Shinji took a few more moments to consider. Lie . . . Or answer honestly. He'd been given pretty clear instructions not to advertise that he was pilot but the Colonel had told him it wasn't classified under a situation like this. And he from what he could see, even the fact that Rei was an EVA pilot seemed to be an open secret around here.

He finally answered.

Yes.

And immediately regretted the class was in an uproar surrounding his desk in seconds.

Hey, how did you get chosen?

"Did you have to take a test?"

"Weren't you really scared?"

"What's the cockpit look like?"

The Question hammered him in the face, Shinji brushed them aside with the standard its classified until one question he could answer came up.

"Hey, what's the name of that robot?"

"Its called the Mark Strife."

The girl who had asked cocked her head, "Sounds foreign, does it mean something?"

Shinji nodded, "Yeah, Mark would be a way of saying its designation, Mark one, Mark two, etc, but the designers gave it a secondary designation, Strife means a struggle or bitter fight." Shinji explained.

Some of the girls oozed and awed.

Shinji shrugged and did his best to ignore the activity around him until the bell rang. 'Wonder where Rei's run off to, she shouldn't be moving with those bandages still on.' He thought distantly as he headed for the cafeteria.

The boy that had been glaring got up after him.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei sat alone beneath one of the trees in the school yard, eating the few pieces of bread she had taken to eat. It was better then nothing and at least quelled her stomach a little.

"Hello Rei!" That same bright voice came from in front of her. She glanced up to see Yumi looking down at her a bright look on her face, starburst retina's set in pale blue eyes sparkled.

"What do want?"

"Would you like me to keep reading this to you?" She asked pulling a book from her satchel. It was the same one she had been reading to her in the hospital. Rei read the printers note at the top.

'The timeless classic about growing up, and the human dignity that unites us all.'

"I can read it myself, there is no need for you to do it for me." Rei said, trying her best to tell the girl to leave, politely.

"But I want to read it to you." She said holding the book up to her face.

Rei cocked her head, "Why?"

"Because I want to be your friend, and friends do nice things for one another, and I want to do something nice for you now." Yumi explained.

Rei paused for a moment, "You wish to be my friend? Why?"

Yumi was a little put off, how could this girl not understand something as simple as companionship? "Because I want to."

"Why do you want to?"

"Because you seem like a nice person."

Rei blinked, she had never done anything to make anyone think of her as a nice person. She really didn't care what others thought of her so she put no effort into being kind to them. 'Then why does it hurt when they all leave me alone?'

"I will be you friend if I am ordered to be." She replied and tried to look away.

Yumi didn't let her, instead the girl sat down next to her and looker her in the eyes. 'We both have strange eyes.' Yumi thought, Rei's though of a normal shape were a blood red. While Yumi's of a normal color had those impossible four pointed starburst retinas sitting in the center of her normal, round, irises.

"Being a friend isn't something you can be ordered to do, Miss Ayanami. I was asking do you want a friend."

Rei didn't say anything for a long time. "Your presence is not a undesirable." She finally said softly.

Yumi brightened at the closest thing Rei had come to an affirmative answer. Rei continued to eat as Yumi opened the book and continued from where she had left off. "My Nagging got the better of Jem eventually . . ."

She kept Reading for some time before Rei received a call on her cell phone. "Yes . . . Yes Ma'am." Rei closed the phone and looked over to Yumi. "We must find Shinji, the Fourth Angel has been detected on its approach."

HHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji moved fast with a wiry grace that had made him more dangerous then most would expect in a fight as he dodged the first blow. "What was that for?" Shinji shouted as the large brute of a boy came at him with another strike, and again was avoided.

"Stop that, stand still so I can clock you!" He snarled swinging again and missing. He glanced to the bespectacled boy behind him.

"What's his problem?" Shinji asked as he dodged a fourth blow with little difficulty.

"Yeah, mean isn't he, don't feel bad about it, his little sister was injured in the battle a few days ago."

"What!" Shinji shouted, he was shocked the civilians were all supposed to have evacuated!

The realization froze him long enough for the boy to get in a solid punch, knocking Shinji back. "BECAUSE OF YOU MY LITTLE SISTER IS IN THE HOSPITAL!" The boy snarled.

Shinji ran a hand across his lips and wiped away a bit of blood where the blow had caused him to bite his lip. He lowered his hand, bowed his head, hiding the grief in his eyes behind loose strands of hair.

The boy struck again, and again, Shinji didn't even try to defend himself, didn't even roll with the punches instead allowing each one to land head on. He didn't cry or even grunt in pain accept when the strikes forced the air from his lungs. He just kept his head bowed taking each strike because he deserved them. Shinji felt sick . . . He'd hurt a little kid.

The boy looked at him in discussed as he drew back for another blow. "MR. SUZUHARA WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Shinji slid to the ground one eye swelling shut, blood tricking from his lip where another bruise was forming on his cheek.

Touji looked up in surprise as the Class representative Hikari Horaki, Rei, and that Yumi girl who had entered the school with Shinji came up behind them. "It's nothing." Touji muttered kicking Shinji in the side in disgust.

Hikari knew exactly why he was doing it. "Do you think Shinji could have known about your little sister and how do you know he hurt her. The UN was throwing around all those bombs and missiles, they even dropped an N2 mine!" She pointed out angry.

Yumi cocked her heads at what the Class rep had said. "What do you mean Shinji hurt his little sister?" Yumi asked tugging childishly at Hikari's shoulder. The girl frowned as she turned to Rei and Yumi, she'd helped them find Shinji who'd disappeared during the lunch period. It was fortunate she had, otherwise this infringement may have gone unpunished.

"Touji's little sister was injured during the battle." Kensuke explained again.

"She was hurt really bad." Touji put in angrily, "it's a miracle they found her, they say if they had been an hour later they wouldn't have been able to save her."

Yumi shook her head, backing away slowly. "Shinji sama would never hurt someone!" She cried out.

"Yeah, well he did, and now people are paying for his joy ride, who fights with giant robots in the middle of a city!" Touji snarled contempt in his voice as he looked down at Shinji.

Yumi looked desperately to Shinji hoping that he would get up and tell her it wasn't true. "Shinji?"

He wouldn't even look at her as he rose quietly back to his feet, brushing her jacket off quietly.

Yumi shook her head slowly, backing away with tears in her eyes. Shinji had _hurt_ someone, NO, that couldn't be right! Shinji was a protector of justice, he wouldn't hurt someone . . .

"Shinji, please . . ." She hiccupped softly.

"Yu . . . I . . ."

Yumi turned on her heals and ran before he could say anything else, afraid of what he would say.

Shinji watched her run until she had turned at the edge of the school and disappeared from site.

"Lieutenant Ikari."

"Yeah Ayanami?" Shinji didn't turn to look at Rei still fixed in the direction Yumi had run.

"An Angel has been detected, we are required at NERV." With that Rei turned and began to hobble off, still stiff from her injuries. He nodded after a second and walked after her, leaving three of his fellow class mates to try and understand what they had just seen.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Do you think Yumi will be alright?" Shinji asked Misato as the Mark strife headed towards the lifts. They hadn't been able to modify the strife to marry with the lifts, so they had refitted one of the cages to marry with the Strife, a fairly straightforward arrangement. It was fortunate the machine was approximately the same size as an EVA.

"She seems like a strong girl." Misato pointed out as the Strife reached its docking position.

"If she doesn't head back home after the fighting we'll send Section Two out, ok?"

"That sounds good, thanks Misato." Shinji nodded as the visual link moved off to the side leaving his vision unimpaired.

The diver seat shifted from reclined to a near standing position as Shinji leaned forward to get a good view. The cage locked into position on the launch rails and was rocketed to the surface at a speed that impressed Shinji considering the amount of weight riding on the lift was close to three and a half times over spec.

The lift reached the surface and released the Strife into the city. Shinji took one of NERV's pallet rifles from the weapons building nearby and advanced using basic infantry tactics, the weapon shouldered and at the ready.

"Misato where is that bastard."

"The Angel is in Grid A-14, advancing along the B-7 root . . . Its stopped can you intercept it?"

"Yeah that shouldn't be any . . ." Shinji cursed as a whip like arm shot out from the side of the streets cutting the pallet rifle in two. He jumped back angrily before the whip could recover for another strike.

He stared at the wreckage of the weapon and switched to infrared . . . "FUCK", he cursed, the ruined pallet rifle was glowing white where it had been sliced. "So much for killing it with the pallet rifle." Shinji thought as the creature cut the building he had been hiding behind to pieces revealing itself, long and gruesome it looked something on the order of a flying caterpillar from hell.

"God that things ugly . . ." Shinji thought as he back peddled, not fast enough. The whip like appendage came back about slamming him into a building and burning through the first layer of armor along the Strife's side.

Shinji screamed in pain as the system feed back pumped into him. He forces himself out of the Angel's reach before it could get a hold of him.

"Ok then . . . Armor's just going to slow us down . . ."

-Pain, Agreement-

"Ok." Shinji repeated thumbing in a series of commands with one hand. The white upper body armor blew away in shower of sparks and individual armor pieces revealing the coal black body of the Strife's muscle skeleton.

Misato and Ritsuko watched. "What is he doing?" Ritsuko asked as the Strife raised its fists taking a fighting stance and advanced on the Angel. With its upper body exposed along all but its still white armored head and forearms it reminded Misato of a soldier boxing shirtless.

"He's dropping the extra weight look." They both watched as the Strife charged in, and then danced out of the Angel's reach each blow it landed degraded the AT field a bit further while its own magnetic fields disrupted and stopped the angel from recovering its field.

"That incredible idiot, he's almost got it!" Misato cheered . . . Too early. The Angel, growing fed up with its enemies fast attacks grabbed the Strife's heel with its energy whip and slung the huge machine, with considerable effort down the street towards the hills surrounding Tokyo-3.

Shinji shook his head muzzily as he landed, "What happened?" He wondered, his eyes widened as he saw the two kids laying almost eye level with the Strife's head at the side of an old Shrine. He knew them . . .

"What now!" Ritsuko shouted as she saw Shinji's heart beat spike, biometrics was the only part of the Mark Strife they were being allowed to remotely access so far. That and sensor data.

Misato saw exactly what was wrong, two Students had some how managed to make it out of the shelters.

"Shinji . . . SHINJI, Get those civilians out of there, we'll come up with a new plan when . . ."

Everyone stared as Shinji's attention was drawn to something else, a figure far down on the stone steps leading up to the Shrine. Misato's breath caught as Shinji zoomed the image, Yumi breathing heavily ran up the steps where she had been sitting since she'd run from Shinji at school.

But now she was advancing right toward Shinji, and was dead between Shinji and the Angel.

"Damn it!" Shinji screamed as he snapped out of his shock, he shifted the Strife's head and opened up with all four rotary 255mm cannons, a storm of casings streamed from the machines sleek head as it sent its entire compliment of over five hundred HEAP shells down range right into the Angel's weakened but still functioning AT field.

It didn't do much at this range, not with AT field still up. Yumi had frozen eyes wide halfway up the steps just as the Angel slung its whip around. The last thing she saw was the whip crushing and cutting down trees in a wide swath heading right for her, then the world exploded in light.

-**EXT PWR ACT-**

"YUMI" Shinji screamed as he withdrew the Strife's revolver cannon from its holster, more a sawed off battleship gun and fired off all six enormous rounds, nearly deafening Kensuke and Touji as they flattened themselves out against the ground, hands clenched tight over their ears.

He watched a small smoldering speck trace a shallow arc up the mountanside and into the side of the shrine forty meters away. Kensuke and Touji ducked down as debris sprayed everywhere.

"No . . ." Shinji whispered softly as the Angel advanced on him, the last round finally dropped the AT field but the Angel didn't seem to care, the revolver dropped uselessly as the tears came.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

**-SYSTEM DEFENSE MODE BOOT STRAP-**

**SYSTEM CHECK-**

**Rmt Lnk 100 Operational**

**Prm Sns 56 Sensors degraded due to overload.**

**CNS 72 CNS Degraded due to overload.**

**Rt. Arm 78 Damage due to impact**

**Lf. Arm 58 Damage due to impact Rt. Leg 89 Damage due to impact**

**Lf. Leg 82 Damage due to impact SNS 88 Damage due to overload**

**EM Affector 71 Damage due to overload**

**Autonomous Decision Tree Matrix Boot Strap . . .**

**Identity Core Stored in Non Volatile Memory . . . 89 . . . 92 . . . 97 . . . 100 **

**Identity Core Backup Complete . . .**

**Secondary Nervous System Going to Autonomous Mode . . . Remote Link with Mark Ziel established . . . **

**Mark Ziel Activated, releasing Grid Tap safeties . . **.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"MASSIVE ELECTRO MAGNETIC SPIKE DETECTED!" Maya shouted.

"Unknown phenomena occurring in proximity to the Mark Strife."

Misato and Ritsuko had enough time to wonder what the hell was going on before everything went to hell . . . For the Angel that was.

Kensuke Aida turned his face and camera slowly to the wreckage of the temple where Yumi's arm lay out from beneath a sizeable piece of rubble. He started back as the hand twitched in his camera's eyepiece, he looked up from his camera at the scene. The broken remains of the temple wall began to shift slowly as Yumi stood back up, fit to terrify even Gendo, her face was covered in coal black from the vaporized carbon, and her retinas had slitted down into a pair of crosses, almost like a pair of crossed cat's retinas.

Most startling was the way her hair now glowed and shifted through a pattern of light like molten rock, dull reds, oranges, and yellows, Kensuke swore that the hairs themselves were probably as hot as the magma their color resembled.

It was unclear when the growling started but it slowly rose to a yell as Yumi charged straight towards the Angel, the whip came back around, and with impossible speed attempted to bat Yumi aside. The angel had not accounted for the grace and balance that Yumi, currently running on the single minded instinct to KILL it, possessed. The whips temperature had been lowered when the Angel used it to sling the Mark Strife halfway across the city, it was still hot enough to have made steel glow red, but at least it was manageable as Yumi ran straight along the whip.

Shamshiel, sick of its opponent's antics flicked its whip sending Yumi high into the air.

Everyone watched what came next. "EM spike is increasing Maya announced deep within Central Dogma as Yumi attacked.

Affectors were amazing devices, allowing a general manipulation of magnetic fields within a small area around the user. Though energy and computer intensive to use they were veritable Swiss Army knives when it came to tricky situations, anything from creating a barrier out of ionized and suspended air molecules, to flight via repelling off the earths magnetic field, to generating a powerful plasma beam.

The air seemed to shimmer around Yumi as she was suspended high above her target, the Angel starred up at her trying to understand how its target had suddenly defied gravity. That pause as it assessed the situation was fatal, the air around Yumi was pulled in and compressed tightly by her own internal affector arra,y powered by a remote tap. Air was ionized then excited into a plasma state.

Shamshiel seemed to realized what was coming and lifted off once more to destroy its opponent before she attacked. It didn't get the chance, the super-compressed and ionized air collected along each hand spread wide as Yumi brought her hands together accelerating the stream of ions down range at her target. The beam lanced against the Angels core, splintering the outer shell but failing to penetrate deeply. Still the surprise and pain the attack caused combined with its inability to brace in midair sent the ungainly creature into a back roll right into the mountain side.

The Angel was left sprawled out on the ground as the true form of its tormenter emerged from the earth in much the same way as the Mark Strife had appeared in the EVA cages leaving no evidence of its passing.

The Second Generation machine was slightly shorter and slimmer with a forest camo pattern instead of the solid colors of either the EVA's or the Mark Strife. It carried an enormous rifle slung over its shoulder, and a pair of boneless appendages draped over its arms to fall past its waist like a ridiculous scarf or perhaps draped wings, attaching at a thick collar directly over the main limbs.

"What is that!" Ritsuko shouted glancing to Misato, neither woman had an answer. But they could guess, a moment later their guess was confirmed as Shinji whispered two words over the radio.

"Mark . . . Ziel."

The Angel got itself back off the ground rearing up high to attack this new target with its energy whips. The Mark Ziel moved under remote mode shifting two a kneeling position, the two limbs hanging useless over its shoulders became active as their hydraulics drove them rigid and they began to move, the machine unlimbered the massive 50 Inch rifle, a gun on the order of three times larger then the largest battleship cannon every cast.

The two big limbs accepted the brunt of the weight as the machines smaller more to proportion arms loaded the first shell and took careful aim mimicking the grip of the larger arms on the weapon, the whips came around intent on catching the machine before it could fire. Shinji realized what was going to happen and brought the Strife's hands down protectively over the two frightened boys.

His fingers flew across the keyboard, entering a command to ionize the air around the strife and suspend it to along the machines frontal arc, generating a barrier against the what was to come next.

The Mark Ziel fired . . .

For a second everything seemed out of place, there was flash, silence . . . and then a thunderous crack and roar as the round went down range less then half a mile, and right through the core of the Angel, severing its upper and lower body halves in one fell swoop.

The shockwave leveled most of the trees for a quarter smile, splintered stones immediately around the Mark Ziel, stripped trees all the way down the mountain and leveled the shrine before blasting across the Tokyo-3 cityscape, shattering windows and finally burrowing itself into the side of Mt. Funteko in miniature mushroom clouds. The only living things left on that mountainside were Shinji, Touji, Kensuke . . .

-**EXT PWR DCT-**

"SHINJI SAMA!"

And Yumi. Shinji looked up as the proximity alarm toned. Yumi was falling in a semi controlled decent right towards the huge machine, a quartet of wings stretched from her back glowed softly as her affector vented excess heat into the air.

Shinji swung one of the Strife's hands back up catching Yumi and cupping her gently between the machines armored digits, the wings faded from existence as her affector released its control over the ionized and suspended air molecules.

She was covered in a carbon, and half naked from where her uniform had been shredded, incinerated, and ripped apart after being used as a haci sac by the Angel, but she was alive.

"I DID IT SHINJI SAMA!" She shouted, "I BEAT AN ANGEL TOO!"

Shinji blinked his shoulders sagging in disbelief at Yumi, who now sat waving and bouncing in the Strife's cupped hand, less then an hour ago she had been in a state of morose depression, now she was back to her cheerful self . . . More so.

"She's a complete nut bar, a total gooney bird." He said to himself before starting to laugh and cry all at once, not even thinking that his link to Central Dogma was still wide open. Misato and Ritsuko starred at the girl waving and laughing on the main screen.

"Did you know she could do that?" Ritsuko asked stupidly.

Misato shook her head slowly. "Didn't know I had a roommate that could stop an Angel long enough for a giant robot to come and blow it to hell."

"Just wanted to be sure, well Captain, this is another thing to put on my report . . ."

'Behind the report on the 3rd Angel, the Mark Strife, and now the 4th Angel.'

Misato started out of her shock long enough to shout down to the bridge bunnies. "Get a Section Two Unit out there to retrieve those kids . . . All of them."

It was good the Commander wasn't present Misato thought as she descended from the command level. She didn't think she would have wanted to explain this fiasco . . . God she was going to have a Yebisu when she got home.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Who would have thought that girl was an android." Misato thought aloud as she watched Maya Ibuki on the screen assaulting the carbon scoring that had covered most of Yumi's body with a high pressure hose and several soaps that were more akin to industrial solvents.

"Bioroid" Shinji corrected.

"Meaning?"

"With the exception of her affectors and a few other systems she was designed to have implanted within her body she's essentially a living organism, or so similar to a living organism as to make no difference . . ." Shinji recited.

"He's right, we're through with our preliminary studies, and its hard for us to tell what's organic and what's artificial in her." Ritsuko chimed in.

"So why was she, built or born or whatever?" Misato asked.

"Lets just say that that's classified." Shinji replied. "By classified I mean I have no clue . . ."

"But you knew she was a bioroid?" Misato asked.

"I did."

"And you didn't think it was important to tell us?"

"MESSIAH has its secrets, you have yours." Shinji pointed out.

"That's not the same," Misato countered as she slammed a hand down on the table before her. "You brought an unsecured weapon with you that could threaten the security of this facility, Shinji!"

Misato swore Shinji's eyes had changed to a storm gray when he turned to face her, "Yumi is not a weapon." He said quietly.

"It's a bit late to stop him from bringing unsecured weapons into NERV, Captain" Ritsuko pointed out. "And your seriously over estimating her power. It might seem impressive that she could damage the angel, but after studying the video footage I can say for sure that other then stunning it she did only superficial damage to the core. It was that rifle that finished the Angel off . . ."

Misato looked angrily at Ritsuko and then turned back to the screen. "So . . . Does this change anything Misato?" Shinji asked.

She sighed, "I guess it doesn't. You and Yumi are still my roommates assuming the Commander doesn't order me to kick you out."

"I'll find out about that this evening, I have a meeting with the grand old bastard of NERV before I head home and I somehow doubt he's going to be happy about today's events."

Ritsuko and Misato nodded, "Oh, I do have one request Shinji, do you have that Uniform you wore to the staff meeting here?"

"Hmmm, Yeah I left it in the locker room, I don't have much use for a plug suit so I decided to keep it here, since it's the only place I'll be using it why?"

"Would you mind coming with me to debrief those your classmates."

Shinji looked down for a moment and shook his head, "I would rather not . . . I don't think I can face one of them right now . . . Sorry Misato."

"That's okay Shinji, I can handle it without our illustrious Lieutenant." She said rubbing his hair lightly, ever since Misato had seen him dress down a UN Colonel she had taken any chance to tease him about his official rank.

"Misato, please!" He whined slightly as his face turned beet read. He was already learning that his new co-worker, roommate, and Guardian was a bit of an odd one.

He turned back to the screen as Maya began on another heavy round of scrubbing. Misato and Ritsuko realized something.

"SHINJI WHAT ARE YOU DOING WATCHING THIS!"

Shinji blinked, "Well its not like I haven't seen Yu naked before . . ." He glanced back and forth between the queer looks Misato and Ritsuko gave him.

"Believe me, when your trying to cram in everything MESSIAH had on your schedule you learned to do away with the niceties of a changing room." Shinji zoned out remember hoping back into his street clothes as he ran down the halls of MESSIAH's Kyoto base after going through a dress inspection in order to get home in time for his cello lessons.

Both women blinked, Misato did perhaps the first mature thing she had ever done for Shinji, she gently guided him out of the room. Shacking her head as she closed the door.

"Well, he's full of surprises" Ritsuko chuckled softly.

"That may explain why he hasn't been freaked out by my advances. I don't know how I feel about that."

Ritsuko just kept smiling as she watched Maya finally satisfied with her work help Yumi dry off.

"Oh it's not that bad Misato . . . After all he probably has some experience."

Misato in the middle of sipping from a cup of coffee promptly spit the black liquid out again, all over the video monitor they had been observing Yumi on. "WHAT!"

Ritsuko smiled behind her clipboard as she turned back to observe the proceedings, it was amazing how much fun it was to catch Misato off balance.

"Still . . . I'm a bit worried about Shinji's bio metrics, it seems that the presence of his class mates on the battlefield had a strong adverse affect on him." Ritsuko commented, becoming more professional.

"A weight . . ." Misato thought to herself. "I think Yumi said it best, he'd rather suffer then let anybody else have to take the pain."

"That could be his problem . . . He's got a hero complex. Or maybe hedgehogs dilemma."

"What, you mean those little animals with the prickly hair?"

"Yes, the hedgehogs have the problem that in order to get close to another hedgehog they hurt each over in the process with their spines, I think Shinji may be manifesting the dilemma in an unusual way, he'd would rather suffer and take the pain to keep others safe so they won't be the ones hurting him. He'd rather the pain come from a third party and not be something brought upon him by other people who wants to be close to."

"So, he deludes himself so that he can accept that pain of being close to people? That seems kind of harsh."

"Not quite, he'd just rather take the more painful road so it won't be the people he cares for hurting him."

Misato looked back at the door, "Then . . . I hope . . . He can get through this . . ."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"You failed to inform us of your Subordinates . . . Abilities." Gendo remarked.

Shinji stood before him in his school uniform, "I did not think it important at the time . . ."

"It is now . . ."

"How about we just get down to what this little meeting is supposed to be about." Shinji stated quietly, removing a palm computer from his jacket and sliding it across to Gendo. "These are the basic plans of operation being laid out for the deployment of the Mark Strife, Mark Ziel, and Unit-01 in combat operations. I hope you will find them satisfactory."

Shinji said politely.

Gendo activated the small computer and ran through the list on it. "I have been informed . . . That a sizeable convoy has been detected leaving the Kyoto area." Gendo said as he placed the palm top back on his desk.

"That would be our maintenance section, they should be here by tomorrow morning." Shinji noted.

Gendo nodded, he'd received the intelligence on this sudden movement mere hours ago. The GSDF seemed to have known about it judging by their like of reaction, which suggested that MESSIAH had connections with them. To make things worse, the convoy had moved out under a wide area satellite jamming event which meant ties in the US airforce were quite likely. It also meant that NERV still had no idea of MESSIAH's precise location other then in the Kyoto region.

Gendo filed this information away, each time MESSIAH made a move he collected a little more data about them. Eventually they would have enough to build a complete picture of what they faced. The trick was to do it before they ran out of time.

"That is satisfactory." Gendo finally said. "Arrangements have been made to house the equipment and Mark Units in the underground warehouse section, it is in close proximity to the lift system and EVA cages which should prove sufficient."

Shinji nodded, "I thank you again . . . And there is one other things I wished to bring up."

"Speak of it."

"It has to do with your Pilot, Rei Ayanami . . ."

Gendo did not react externally but allowed Shinji to continue. "I believe she may be a viable Pilot Candidate for the Mark Strife . . . I would like to suggest she undergo training in the Unit to guarantee a back up pilot in the Case that I am incapacitated as Yumi now has the Mark Ziel to pilot."

Gendo nodded, "Pilot Ayanami has already informed me of events involving the Mark Strife, she seems greatly disturbed by it."

"That doesn't surprise me . . . She resisted the Mark Strife's attempts to bond with her so bad that her cross interference spiked through the roof."

"Explain."

Shinji shifted as he considered how much he should say, "When a Pilot is in a Mark Unit the system accepts commands through receptors and gives basic information like surface pressure, touch, through transmitters in the diver pod to improve a pilots awareness. Ayanami resisted and caused the system to interfere with her own nervous system . . ."

"I see."

Gendo weighed the option, if Rei trained with the Mark Strife it could damage her mind, in which case the Third would have to be activated. On the other hand if she succeeded she would doubtless glean information on the operation of the machine, information that could prove useful . . . And . . . It allowed Gendo to at least start to bring the scenario back on track.

"I will allow her to go through training to operate the Mark Strife under the condition that you begin Synchronization training with Unit-01 after Rei's activation tests."

Shinji seemed to consider it for a moment. "If that is your decision Commander Ikari, then I accept it."

"Very well, you may begin training Pilot Ayanami at the end of the week. You will be given an hour each day."

"Yes sir."

"That is all Lieutenant."

Shinji saluted, and turned smartly on his heals heading for the door.

As it closed Gendo locked it remotely and considered the situation, Chairman Keele was awaiting him on a private line. There was much to speak of concerning today's events, but Doctor Akagi seemed confident that if need be Rei would be able to neutralize girl she wasn't that much of a threat on her own.

Much would need to be done in the coming weeks. It was worrying that the Angel had come so quickly but the scrolls had some leeway on the arrival of the fourth, ranging from as little as three days, to as long as three weeks, apparently it had been the former. (A/N had to make an excuse for the messed up timing I was nearly done with this chapter when I realized, so sorry for being lazy)

It was worrying, the timescales had been designed to be adjusted around the leeway given for the Angel's attacks but it hadn't been designed to adjust for another external variable as well.

Thought the situation was not without its advantages. The UN had been much quieter about NERV's funding as well as giving Gendo a little more elbow room. He smirked. It was ironic that the pride of UN officials that would have worked against him under other circumstances was now lining the UN up on his side.

After all NERV was still a UN organization, and if the UN didn't like it, they at least looked out for their own. The Honor and Pride of the UN armed peacekeeping forces was on the line with the presence of MESSIAH, they had to save face, and the only way to save face was through NERV, whether they liked it or not.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Misato drove at a more subdued pace then usual as Shinji sat starring out the passenger side window. Yumi was in the back, curled up asleep in a NERV uniform three sizes too big for her borrowed from Lieutenant Ibuki, with Shinji's jacket laid out over her. Shinji had explained that even with her tap into the Mark Ziel's power supply she had likely redlined her physical capabilities in that strike, it wasn't like she was phenomenally tougher then a normal human being.

She'd be out for a good ten or twelve hours. Now however Misato was more concerned about Shinji, he'd grown more distant after the battle. After hearing the story from Yumi she could guess why, and that was why they were going to make a little detour on their way home.

Shinji seemed to notice and commented on the change in their rout. "They're's something really special I want to show you, its really cool." Misato replied giggling slightly as they came to a stop near a low hill, it was getting on to later afternoon by now.

She dragged Shinji from the car so he could see the city from a good angle. "It seems so empty . . ." He noticed, sounding sad.

"Just watch, its almost time."

Almost time for what Shinji soon found out.

"The buildings . . . They're moving!" He whispered watching as the city rose to reveal its true form. Sky scrapers, apartments, office buildings, all were revealed now as the danger of the day passed and Shinji got his first truly GOOD look of the City.

"Woooow, That really is something."

"Isn't it just . . . This is Tokyo-3 Shinji . . . This is our home. And now you and Yumi have saved it twice."

Shinji grew distant again. "I saved it but . . ."

"You saved that little girl too Shinji." Misato added. He stiffened noticeably. They were both quiet for a long time, "I should have . . ."

"Should have what, Shinji?" Misato asked.

Shinji shook his head. "Its nothing."

'I should have done better . . .'

HHHHHHHHHHHH

Kensuke Aida and Touji Suzuhara sat watching the rain begin to fall later that evening. "We got chewed out good." Touji commented as he sat next to his friend playing a fighting game in Kensuke's room.

"Yeah . . . And they confiscated my film too." Kensuke chimed in, sounding surprisingly depressed. "And Yumi was incredible!"

"Nobody would believe you even with footage." Touji pointed out.

"I don't know if I believe it myself, who would have thought we had an android AND a giant robot pilot going to our school!"

Touji shook his head in disbelief. "Remember how Shinji looked when he got out of his robot?" Kensuke asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" He really didn't want to think anything about that idiot.

"He looked like he was going to cry when he hugged Miss Toyama."

Touji snorted, "He was probably trying to fondle her." He dismissed it.

"I don't know . . ." Kensuke commented. "They seem pretty close, has it occurred to you how Shinji may have felt if he lost someone important to him?"

"But she wasn't in danger, she's a freaking machine!" Touji shouted.

Kensuke shook his head, "I don't think even Shinji expected her to survive that, so I'd still rate it as a minor miracle. And think how he looked after he found out your sister got hurt, if he can fight on foot like he does with his giant robot then you wouldn't have even scratched him. Maybe you should think about that instead of pounding his face in next time."

Touji snorted.

"He might of hurt your little sister . . . But couldn't even more people have been hurt if he didn't fight?"

Touji was quiet for a long time instead focusing on working up a combo attack with his big brute of a fighter, against Kensuke's character, a tiny skimpily dressed girl with what looked like a super sized hoolahoop of doom.

He almost had Kensuke when the bespectacled boys chick character threw her hoolahoop cutting his character in half in an over animated mass of blood and gore.

Touji tossed the controller to the floor in disgust.

Kensuke looked at him, then got up and grabbed something from a drawer next to his computer. He handed Touji a piece of paper.

"What this?"

"Its Shinji's address, maybe you should go talk to him."

Touji looked up at his friend irritably, "Look, I have to go home okay Ken?"

"That's fine."

Touji headed out the door. Kensuke smiled, he'd seen Touji pocket the address.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"And have our friends in the US done as requested?" The man asked.

"Yes, selective availability even was placed on all GPS satellites, as well as a forty minute blanket jamming of all orbiting satellites over Kyoto at the time." The woman replied shifting. "Don't you think we're calling in a lot of favors."

"We're investing them towards our final confrontation."

"Do you think it was wise to allow the Mark Ziel to go as well."

"Could we have stopped it?"

"No."

"Then why try, anyways its not like it would be much use without its pilot."

"True, but we can at least be sure of the pilots safety after tomorrow."

"Yes. Tanaka and Rico can handle this I'm sure." The man paused, turning to his companion. "you look troubled."

"I just don't know how I feel about those two."

"They're very attached to the children, and vice versa."

"That's why they were reassigned in the first place!"

"I believe we have already had this discussion, and like I have said before I think it best for everyone's sake that they be there. You know those two are the closest things either Yumi or Shinji have to father figures."

"What about you!" The man paused, "Unfortunately I cannot allow myself to become so attached, I wish I could but I can't."

"Sir . . ."

"Regardless I trust the judgment of both Tanaka and Rico, the children will be safe . . . _All_ of them."

"Yes . . . But even so."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Sorry, that should be it for new powers and abilities since the Mark Fear won't be appearing until Much, MUCH later in the story and Tanaka and Rico are it for new characters so only five original characters in a massively altered world, not too shabby!

And I promise After thisthe EVA's will have a much more prominent role again though with the change that Rei will be piloting Unit-01 I figure Yui will accept her as her daughter in Spirit at least.

I'm also going to point out now, that though Yumi did just stun an Angel this in no way makes her all that powerful. She hit an Angel with its ATfield down, dead center on its core with about the same energy as a pallet rifle round. Impressive but not amazing. She also can only do little things like that in proximity to the Mark Ziel since she has to tap into its power grid to use her affector's full power. Otherwise her affector is of minimal usefulness, think a Swiss army knife.

Now for specs.

MESSIAH MECHA

Designation: Mark Ziel, 2nd Generation Production Unit.

Height: 40.5 Meters.

Weight: 1700 tons.

Power: Internal Cold Fusion Reactor, Grid Tap Copied from Mark Fear.

Internal Weapons: 255mm Auto cannons.

External weapons: MESSIAH heavy Assault Rifle, MESSIAH2000 Caliber "20 inch"Revolver Cannon, MESSIAH2500 Caliber "25 inch"Hybrid Sniper Rifle, Messiah High Energy Particle Cannon, Vibration Knife.

Equipment: AI core, EM affector, Sniper SupportArms.


	4. Arrival of Friends, Arrival of Family

Chapter Four: Arrival of Friends, Arrival of Family.

A convoy moved through the pre dark darkness, forty vehicles with the same destination. All of them were massive, built to carry loads in the hundreds of tons each and set on dozens of tires. They carried within them machine shops, computers, weapons, armor, and troops, all of the necessary assets for a military presence, all of the things one would expect if an entire base was moving in. Well not an entire base their were only some two hundred and fifty personnel, a token number compared to the thousands employed by NERV.

They were met at the outskirts of Tokyo-3 by a Section Two detail, they had been tracked by satellite all the way here and now they would go through a final clearance level before being admitted to the GeoFront. A full half of section two was waiting when the vehicles were quietly parked at an above ground search station. Everything these people brought in would be closely checked before being allowed to enter, they couldn't stop them from bringing in weapons but any N2 mines or conventional nuclear weapons would be stopped before they could become a threat.

It was under these circumstances that Sub Commander Fuyustuki met with the Convoy Commander , a tall black haired man, wearing a black suit, and black cloak, he managed to pull the strange image off without being gothic, he was just dressed in all black, it was what he wore, nothing more.

"Operative Captain Shiiro Tanaka and MESSIAH third maintenance unit reporting." The man saluted Fuyutsuki politely.

"At ease."

The man took a relaxed stance and extended an arm. Fuyutsuki shook firmly. "So this is the maintenance equipment for the Mark Strife and Mark Ziel?" Fuyutsuki noted the long line of vehicles, headlights bathing the tarmac in harsh light in the pre dawn dark.

"Yeah, this is it, close to four thousands tons worth of spares, the full metal overcoat for the Mark Strife, half a dozen hand held weapons, machining equipment, and the security personnel and their equipment." Tanaka agreed, eye running across the lead three vehicles.

"Will you be able to get it all underground by this afternoon?" Fuyutsuki asked as the section two men began to go from vehicle to vehicle, checking under tarps, sizing themselves up against their opposite numbers, and awaiting admittance into sealed cargo containers.

The man smiled, "Oh we'll be all set up by this afternoon." He snapped his fingers.

The large rigid container being carried by the second truck unfolded into shadows. There was a faint whine and then a dull thud, as something, two something's, stepped forwards from the shadows.

Each was five meters tall, with a dull gray and tan color pattern. Section Two agents shifted and aimed at the machines uncomfortably as they observed their environment through a set of cyclopean sensors in their heads.

"Sanchez, Valentine!" Tanaka shouted to two of his foreign personnel, "Get those AMS units over to the lifts we'll use them to manhandle the equipment."

"Sir, Yes Sir" Both pilots replied simultaneously, their AMS amplifying their voices

The machines marched forward to the lift elevator where the first of the trucks was already being unloaded.

Fuyutsuki wasn't sure if all the things he'd seen in the last week had just desensitized him, or if he was just too tired to care. Their was nothing Section Two could do to stop those things, but they couldn't stop Yumi either it wasn't like one more thing on the list was going to hurt. "How many of those things are their?" He asked out of curiosity.

Tanaka turned to him. "We brought twenty four total."

The two machines began to lift a set of crates onto a cargo lift as more of the same humanoid vehicles disembarked from three other transports, soon a small army of giants were at work handing odd loads into the elevators where they would be taken down to the warehouse sectors by NERV's internal transit system.

Fuyutsuki was mildly impressed that this was going so smoothly the Section Two Agent's and their opposite MESSIAH security operatives seemed to mesh well seeing that each stage of transport was thoroughly checked, the UN had all but ordered NERV to play nice while hosting the other organization within the Tokyo-3 GeoFront, and frankly this was going to probably give NERV an excuse to requisition more money for ground force security.

It had already been like the twelve days of Christmas in the last week, VTOL squadrons, main battle grade infantry equipment, and a silent nod from the UN with an increase in NERV's budget. They may not have liked it but NERV was still one of their branches, and the UN watched after its own.

Fuyutsuki continued to watch the scene unfold as machinery was moved with remarkable efficiency, 'This is either going to be a beautiful friendship or a cold war.' He thought darkly.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yumi was awoken the next morning as her futon became intolerably warm in the early morning light. She shook her head muzzily as she looked around trying to focus on what had happened . . . She'd tapped in the Mark Ziel's Grid link during the battle against the 4th. She remembered, an odd sensation right before her reflex programming took over. A burning excitement within her chest . . . As if . . .

There was a soft wrapping at the door. "You awake, Yu?" Shinji asked softly.

"Uhuh, I'm up." She said sleepily, realizing just how dry her throat and mouth felt, like she'd been sucking on a cotton swab.

She rose slowly realizing just how stiff she was, she moved carefully, stretching with extreme care. With the enhanced structure of her muscles and the flanged levers embedded in her bones, a normal human being could not begin to comprehend the ungodly pain she called a cramp.

She trudged out of her room still feeling muzzy as she headed down the hall to the bathroom, PenPen stared at her curiously. He liked his two new flat mates, the kind one always made sure to give him his fish on time, and the energetic one had yet to fail to give him a pat on the head and an after dinner snack when she got up in the night.

Yes these two were good roommates.

Yumi stripped out of the sleeveless shirt and the pumpkin shorts she slept in as she turned up the hot water. The bath worked at least some of the stiffness out but it did nothing for feeling dead tired when she came back out drying her hair.

She heard a slight humming as she entered the Kitchen, Shinji was busy with a skillet, his S-DAT player on as he hummed the tune to some old music, Beethoven, she thought, but Yumi had never been particularly good at attaching names to musical pieces. She knew better then to bother him while he was cooking, especially if oil was involved, the last thing she wanted was to cause him to burn himself . . . Again.

As Shinji finished with breakfast and set the plates, and PenPen's fish down, the door to their guardian's room opened. "Yumi . . . Shinji . . . Goodmorining." She mumbled as she walked past them and into the kitchen.

They both now knew what was going to come next . . . -SNAP- "YEEEEEEAAAAHHaaaaaaa!"

Shinji stared at his guardian and held up a mug of something black brewed in a vacuum percolator set up that Misato thought looked like a chemistry set. "Might I advise coffee?"

Misato lowered her beer and leaned over the table as Shinji continued to work. "Do you have a problem with tradition?" She asked, sounding irritated, "Don't you know a traditional Japanese breakfast consist of steamed rice, miso soup, and a little sake!"

"But . . . That's not Sake." Yumi said pointing to the Yebisu can in Misato's hand.

"Grrrrr . . ." Misato glared at the girl with a look of deep indignation.

Shinji just smiled as he continued to cook, laying out some bacon and eggs. Not necessarily very traditional but hey what could you do?

Neither of his roommates seemed to care as they dug into the dishes with full abandon. "You shouldn't stuff yourself like that . . ." Shinji noted to both of his female companions. Misato glanced up for the a second before going back to work on her breakfast, Yumi ignored him outright other then a slight head bob of acknowledgment.

He sighed as he finished putting away the dished, cursing as he realized that two women with a combined body weight of little more then a hundred and ten kilo's managed to eat through everything on the table. "Some of that was for me you know." Shinji mumbled as he removed a granola bar from the cabinet.

Yumi looked up thoughtfully before marching into the kitchen and pulling a stack of bentos from the fridge.

"Why are there three?" Shinji asked.

Yumi glanced at him, "I thought it would be good to bring one for Ayanami."

"Hmmm, Ayanami?"

"Yeah, she seems nice, and she doesn't look like she has many friends." Yumi said as she took the lunch boxes and stacked them on the table.

Shinji cocked his head slightly, "Hey Misato, what do you know about Rei."

"Not much," Misato said as she took another swig from her Yebisu. "She was already living and training in Tokyo-3 when I got here. I think she's been the First Child since before she can remember, that's what she said when I asked her."

"I thought you were supposed to be the Operations Director, doesn't that mean you should know more about a pilots background?" Shinji asked.

Misato looked at him suspiciously, "Well, other then your little side job working for a secret organization, Lieutenant, Section Two has a file on you the size of a novel. But Rei's file is only seven pages . . . Her past was completely deleted when she was selected as a Pilot. Ritsuko has never said anything but I'm pretty sure she's an orphan."

Shinji frowned, as he thought about that. 'An orphan . . . That can be a hard life . . .' Shinji in a way had been very lucky, even all but disowned by his own father he had built a strong bond with members of MESSIAH's staff, mostly in the none combat sections, but a few Ground Security personnel called him friend. And, after those first three lonely years he had his friend Yumi at his side.

So he had been able to compensate for his fathers neglect through a family made of the people he worked with, lived with, and trained with, a true bond that could be painful but also worthwhile. To think Rei had never experienced something so simple as a family . . .

"So who watches over her anyway?" Shinji asked.

"You know, I'm not really sure. As long as I can remember Rei has lived alone. Section Two keeps an eye on her but I can't think of a time when she had anyone with her." Misato admitted, "If I had to venture a guess I'd say her Guardianship is probably in the name of the Commander or Sub-commander." Misato finished.

Shinji frowned as he finished washing the dishes, he had made it his new habit to keep the apartment clean after al thel effort he and Yumi had put into it. How the hell one woman could be so god damn good at Jenken Shinji didn't know. Yumi did however, that's why she had thrown the games. It wasn't fair for Shinji to get stuck with all the work because Misato knew the most probably combination Shinji would choose in each progressive game based off of his past reactions to her own choices. Yumi was actually a bit surprised, the only other person she knew who would bother to do that was her mother. She had thought it a thoroughly useless talent, though now she was seeing possibilities . . .

"I guess that explains a lot about her, she's an extreme introvert, only somebody traumatized by my father could be like that." Shinji commented.

Misato was a bit surprised be how often he insulted his father, hell he did it on a regular bases, but then again she had no right to stop him.

Shinji walked back past her and went to grab his bag out of his room before glancing over his back at Yumi. "You coming?"

Yumi was a tangle of limbs and clothes as she struggled to get her satchel, her PE clothes, and the lunch boxes. Shinji ended up taking the bentos for her and they were off.

Misato smiled as they left, 'Shinji having Yumi as a friend is good for him, those two get along well. Its like they were made from the same cloth.' She took another deep swig from her Yebisu and then headed for the shower she was going to be late if she didn't hurry.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The school day was as Shinji had expected more or less. When they got to class Yumi immediately homed in on Rei's seat like a seeker missile intent on giving her the lunch box. Shinji sat down and furiously avoided looking at either Kensuke Aida or Touji Suzuhara, if he had he would have noted that Touji was not looking at him hatefully today.

Unfortunately he did notice the way that Kensuke hammered right into him with questions about Yumi, NERV, the Mark Strife, and about half a dozen other various subjects that really did not involve him. Shinji was tempted, truly and sorely tempted to withdraw his ever present stun baton from his equally ever present jacket and silence him. But that was only the tiny violent part of his nutritionally deprived mind speaking.

"Look Aida, if I give you one fun bit of information will you please leave me alone?" Shinji asked.

The bespectacled boy nodded excitedly.

"We're receiving a bunch of maintenance equipment from another base today if you want you can meet some of the staff they can tell you anything that's not classified." Shinji said simply, their really wasn't a lot of information like that but Kensuke would be happy knowing the Strife's exact weight and height, neither of which was particularly top secret after its debut.

"Really!" The boys eyes were saucers.

"Yeah I know a few of the techs coming in if there from the 3rd Detachment get'm to come out for a drink sometime this week'n you can talk shop." Shinji grunted as he withdrew a small book from his pocket and continued from where he had left off.

"Oh man this is awesome, just too cool!" Kensuke continued.

Shinji sighed and pulled one more thing from his pocket. He tossed the disk to Kensuke.

"What's this?"

"It's a video edited version of what was on your Camera, five minutes of battle footage that isn't classified, you filmed it, the stuff on that disk isn't a security threat, do with it what you will. Just be quiet!"

Kensuke looked like he was ready to kiss Shinji, the other boy didn't notice as he continued to read from his book. 'Ah yes here I am.' He thumbed the page and continued to read through Endymion.

The bell rang soon after, the class went through the normal stand, bow, sit, and then was bored to tears by another lesson about second impact.

Yumi as always remained attentive, making her and the class representative the only two people to actually be giving the teacher any attention at all. Everyone else, Shinji and Rei included were busy starring out windows, reading, writing, hacking into encrypted data files . . .

Kensuke was definitely going to have to ask Shinji about this, from what he had gathered EVA's required an extension cord during combat. The Mark Strife had had no such cord attached to it during its battle, therefore he was tempted to conclude it wasn't an EVA. Not to mention some of the other kids had parents that actually worked with the machines, and neither the Mark Strife or the smaller Mark Ziel matched the descriptions of the EVA's.

In fact Kensuke had been a little surprised to learn that there was more then one series of robots in Tokyo-3 but he guessed it made sense, from what he had heard nobody had really been sure how the Angels would fight so it would make sense for more then one type of robot to be deployed against them.

This would be something to ask Shinji about, did that mean he worked for another organization? Or did NERV have the funding to build so many different machines? It was all so fascinating and exciting, what an incredible time to be alive, a war in his own back yard, and with weapons that should have only been in the sanctum of Anime, and Science Fiction, no less!

He continued at his quiet ticking away but couldn't get much deeper into the NERV data files then things that were only lightly encrypted. He figured he probably wasn't doing anything in a high enough security section of the mainframe to call any attention to himself.

This was how things went until the class finally, blissfully, changed from History to Mathematics, something several orders of magnitude more interesting then listening to the fifty seventh retelling of their Sensei's life before Second Impact.

'It's no like its true anyways . . .' Shinji thought to himself. One of the things he had learned as an Operative was the falsity of the causes of Second Impact, even he didn't know what had caused it. That was still above his security clearance, but he did know it tied in with the Arcadian Technology used in the Mark Fear, Mark Strife, Mark Ziel, AMS, etc. Somewhere in there was a link between Second impact and the technology that MESSIAH employed that much he was sure of.

He stopped his musings as the Sensei called him up to do a particularly hard equation. Cursing himself for not paying attention until now. He glanced at it and sighed in relief, he'd done this one before. Solving it was pretty straightforward.

The entire class passed as such until the lunch bell rang, leaving Shinji mildly surprised when Yumi homed strait in on Rei to eat with her. He considered getting up and going to talk with them, Yumi was his only friend here, and Rei would be learning from him so it would be good to build a friendship with her as well. But . . . He wanted to see how Yumi acted, this was one of the first times she's been in such a position and he didn't want to interfere with her interaction with Rei uninvited.

Rei looked up mildly surprised by Yumi's sudden appearance once again at her side. It was . . . Strange, nobody else had been so insistent on being close to her. It was like the girl was drawn to her attempts to fade into the woodwork.

Yumi handed the bento to Rei. "What is this?" She asked

"A lunch box." Yumi said surprised, "You didn't bring much to eat yesterday so I didn't want you to go hungry today too."

Rei starred at the box for a few moments before quietly opening it and starring at the contents in turn. She felt compelled to speak. "I do not . . ."

"Hmmm?" Yumi leaned forward.

"Eat meat." Rei finished.

This would have caused most people to deflate but Yumi was undeterred, she opened her own lunch box, scan the contents of both and then swapped the various meat servings with the vegetable ones in her own resulting in one Bento with meat and rice, and one with vegetables and rice.

Rei starred for a few more moments and began to eat without a word. Yumi doing the same beside her. Rei considered, she had been told to observe Shinji, and now Yumi after her fight the day before, so if Yumi was willing to stay in close proximity then her task was easier.

Shinji smiled as he observed the quiet meal. Well quiet on the part of Rei, but Yumi kept talking about everything she had seen in the last few days. It was good to see, Rei was pretty far back in her thick, dense, shell but even she seemed willing to interact, and if anyone could pull her even this far out it would be Yumi. That girl would never force something on anyone and that was exactly why she could make friends with introverts.

'That's why she could make friends with me.' Shinji thought only to himself. It was the truth, three years of thinking there had been something that made him defective and undeserving of love or kindness had made him turn in upon himself, but Yumi had never once give up on him. She, the Colonel, Tanaka, and Rico, had all made him a stronger person. And though he held himself to harsh standards he no longer hated himself. He glanced to Touji Suzuhara's seat, well, he didn't hate himself when he didn't deserve it, anyways.

The bell rang again and school continued as usual leaving Shinji to his lessons once again. He really wasn't listening he had other things on his mind, the maintenance unit would be setting up by the time he got back to NERV. It they had a security detachment then he could at least finally rest in peace when it came to keeping the Mark Strife and Mark Ziel secured. He could also finally focus on tactics and training to fight in the Tokyo-3 environment. And, train Rei. That would be the tough part, getting that girl to open up.

Maybe . . . If Yumi could draw her out of her shell . . . Yeah that girl needed a friend, and it would benefit her greatly if she could open up to at least one person.

'Relax Rei, no matter what the Strife and I will keep you safe no matter what.'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Though her training was not to begin yet Shinji said he wanted Rei to undergo familiarization with the basic layout of the Mark Strife. To this end, Rei trailed behind Shinji and Yumi as they proceeded towards the warehouse sector that had been turned over to MESSIAH.

To say the least the path leading to it had undergone a startling metamorphoses. Section Two had at least four checkpoints along the rout with a final barricade twenty meters from a dog leg that led to the MESSIAH section of the GeoFront.

Shinji met up with Misato here noting the odd presence of LAW's beside the newly constructed barricades. "Hey Misato, what are you doing down here?" Shinji asked.

Misato nodded to him slightly, "Your security detachment isn't letting anything through their cordon without permission from a MESSIAH officer." Misato said, "They really are no fun." She pouted.

Shinji shrugged, "MESSIAH Ground Troops are extremist by the book when it comes to security, trust me you won't get a flee past them under any circumstances."

Misato grinned and winked at him, "Like I said, Too by the book, no fun at all."

Shinji laughed slightly, he really did like working with Misato, she was definitely a fun guardian, though frankly it seemed more like he had custody over her and Yumi with how he had taken the role of cook, made, and primary trash collector.

"Well I suppose I can accommodate one more person, anyone else coming?" Shinji asked. Misato shook her head, "Ritz gave up trying to use her authority to get through she seems vaguely pissed about something but I'm really not sure what."

What Ritsuko was pissed about was the fact that MESSIAH coded the OS for EVERY FUCKING COMPUTER in limited access ROM. Even the Mark Strife and Mark Ziel, which did involve a lot of write able memory by their very nature were nuts that the MAGI had yet to crack. It was driving her insane.

Misato followed him down the hall to the dog leg. He poked his head around the corner and turned back to her with a slight smile. "Please don't panic at what you are about to see." Shinji stated calmly before leading the two non MESSIAH personnel around the turn. Bringing them face to face with two lesser Giants.

Rei seemed unaffected, she had already been informed of the unusual weapons in the possession of MESSIAH's security force. They were of limited numbers and could be neutralized in the areas they could maneuver in through bakelite flooding. They were a viable, but minor threat.

Misato seemed considerably less okay with the sudden appearance of the two walking tanks.

"What the HELL are those?"

"AMS, Armored Maneuvering System, you can think of them as heavy duty combat body armor." Shinji explained as Misato eyed the rather large sub machine gun like weapons each machine was wielding.

"Are you sure its safe to have things like that in such a confined space." Misato asked. It was truth, this corridor was designed for heavy transport, the ceiling rose to six meters and yet these machines could almost have reached up and touched the ceiling.

"Don't worry, an AMS can't move without a pilot, they're completely safe." Shinji reassured. 'That that may be a good reason to worry.' He added to himself, he didn't even trust himself with the Mark Strife, and an AMS was far easier for someone to get their hands on.

"That's what I'm worried about." Misato muttered as they came to a halt before the two machines. A security guard in black body armor, covered from head to toe in combat gear with only the tips of his fingers exposed conversed with Shinji in what Misato thought sounded like German but was too quick for her to follow. The man nodded then gave Shinji a thumbs up and let the group proceed.

They emerged into what to Misato seemed an impossible change in the environment. The warehouse no longer had the harsh lighting of NERV's overhead lamps, instead soft buttery light glowed from long strips across the upper catwalks providing sufficient lighting to read comfortably without casting harsh shadows or creating optical illusions from light intensity. Workers swarmed, all over the Mark Strife and Mark Ziel, another pair of AMS were busy reattaching the Strife's upper body armor after Shinji had engaged the Angel in a 'shirtless' boxing match.

She could still see the coal black skin, and the way the machines muscle skeleton emulated a simplified version of the human muscle structure. She noted something else odd, AMS units were scaling the walls, rigging what looked like long planters filled with vines and other creepers along the walls. Misato even now could tell this place would pretty soon more closely resemble a garden than a hangar.

Shinji seemed to note Misato's confusion. "It's a comfortable environment, no?"

Misato nodded, glancing between Yumi and Shinji, they didn't seem surprised at all by this. Though Misato had to admit this place seemed peaceful, like a garden or a well manicured park on a late afternoon, despite the dozen or so AMS units working alongside technicians in orange overalls, hauling up ammo feeds, weapon pods, armor components.

Rei didn't show it but all of this DID interest her to some degree. It was an environment that she had never witnessed before and it provided an interesting sensation. When she had been ordered to undergo pilot training with the Mark Strife she had felt a deep empty sensation where her stomach was supposed to be. 'Anxiety.' Rei noted, she had become familiar with that term after her first encounter with the massive blue eyed machine before her.

Now though she felt some of that stress lessen as she looked about, this place was not yet complete and judging by the division of labor likely would not be for several more days. Yet it was oddly soothing. 'Interesting.' Rei thought.

"Hey Shin, been a while." A voice shouted from beneath them.

Misato gaped and Rei starred on imperceptibly startled but untroubled, as a black clad man came floating up beside the catwalk, apparently suspended in air. Misato did a double take. The man wasn't floating, he was standing on top of a metal sphere approximately two meters in diameter, Misato guessed, which floated beneath him.

"Tanaka!" Shinji and Yumi shouted as the man shifted his weight slightly bringing the floating machine over the catwalk before dropping down to a cross-legged position atop it.

Yumi almost jumped in his lap as she hugged him. "Hey hey" the dark haired man shouted as he pulled Yumi off of him and looked her over. "You've gone off and grown up on me!" He said, sounding betrayed and sliding off of his unusual transport device. "Like a stock of corn."

"She'll always be the little Yu you let ride on your shoulders." Shinji said as he came up and gave the man a heartfelt embrace like two long separated brothers.

"You've been growing too." Tanaka commented as he looked him over running a hand through the boys hair. "Though I see that whiney voice of yours hasn't gone away yet."

"You should hear him when he gets stuck making dinner late." Misato teased taking the chance to punch through and make fun of Shinji a little more.

"Hey!" He whined in defense.

"See, like I said still whiney." Tanaka commented.

"How long as he been like this?" Misato asked.

"As long as I've known him." Tanaka replied, Shinji's eye began to twitch before his mind came to a sudden conclusion.

"Is Rico here too?"

Tanaka nodded, "Yeah he's working down on the ground level if you want to go meet him." Tanaka grinned as Shinji and Yumi disappeared towards the lifts to get down to the ground level. He then turned to the two NERV members. "I apologize for not introducing myself. Operative Captain Shiiro Tanaka of MESSIAH Ground Security, a pleasure to meet both of you."

Misato nodded back, "I'm Captain Misato Katsuragi, NERV's tactical adviser, and this," She gestured to Rei. "Is pilot Rei Ayanami, currently designated pilot for Unit-01."

Tanaka bowed forward slightly taking Misato's hand and kissing it softly, "An honor to make your acquaintance." And then as if to prove he wasn't just doing it to try and gets in Misato's underwear he proceeded to do the same with Rei.

Standing back up fully he nodded to both females. "I hope we will work well together Captain Katsuragi, Pilot Ayanami, if you would like I can start explaining some of the changes we've started to make here, along with some operation parameters on the Mark Strife, Mark Ziel, and the AMS support units."

Misato nodded blushing very slightly at the man's polite behavior. She wasn't one to fall for this kind of thing but it was nice to meet a guy willing to at least try to be a gentleman during his first meeting.

Tanaka grinned as he sat back down on his odd chair/transport/ball.

"Erm, first off, what . . . Is that thing?" Misato asked, eyeing the sphere large enough to sit on comfortably as Tanaka did now.

"Oh, this is a drone, there basically a simple AI running an affector wrapped around a power supply, they repel of the earths magnetic field to stay aloft. We mostly use them as errand boys, transport machines, messengers, and security units. Their pretty useful." He commented as another on the machine, this one only slightly larger then a basketball drifted by overhead, a small paper lantern hanging beneath it adding its own pale light to the soothing blue of the glow strips.

"I suppose you kind of take them for granted after you have them around for a while." Tanaka finished.

"Yeah I guess . . ." Misato frowned before eyeing the greenery. "And . . ."

"The plants, it's a long story, but for some reason its standard operating procedure for a MESSIAH hangar to be a virtual garden. Wait until the arm bushes in the top row grow to their full size in about three months the branches'll interlock and we'll have a habitation level for dormitories."

Dormitories? Misato wonder, looking about the space, it was pretty big, mostly empty, a storage area easily as large as the EVA cages. Misato noted just how much was changing here, terraces, offices, subdivided hangars for the AMS squads, workshops. They were cramming the equivalent of a whole new base in miniature into the tiny fraction of the Geo Front allotted to them.

"Isn't this a bit . . . Impractical?" Misato asked. "And how did you get permission to set that stuff up."

Tanaka gave a little shrug, Misato guessed that was where Shinji had gotten that habit from. "This section of the GeoFront was turned over to us by the UN, what we do here is up to us. If you'll note we've already disconnected all of the MAGI terminals and systems. NERV's computer network holds no sway here."

Misato nodded impressed. "You guys work fast."

"AMS were originally developed to help with construction, and our techs don't fuck around."

"Hmmm, any way we could borrow some of those things for city repairs?" Misato asked sweetly.

Tanaka smiled watching a pair of AMS carrying another armor plate between them. "That depends on whether you'll set me up with the arrogant bottle blond that came by earlier." Tanaka said.

Misato laughed, "Ritsuko? I don't know if she'd go out with anyone, she's a workaholic."

Tanaka sighed, "Sad, and such a lovely woman too . . . Well, I suppose I can lend you the AMS as long as we can set up some rotations, and I suppose if we can trade some favors back and forth we'll probably get along pretty well."

"Oh?"

"Well, you're the NERV tactical officer right?"

Misato nodded, "Yeah my job is to handle anything pertaining to EVA field operations." 'Like the paper work.' She added grimly to herself.

Tanaka turned to watch Shinji now nearly forty meters bellow them conversing with another man, most definitely a foreigner, tall, broad, Latino with short brown hair. "How did Shinji get that black eye anyway?" Tanaka asked in a more subdued voice.

Misato glanced over the rail, the man had taken Yumi into a big embrace and was swinging her about. "I didn't get all the details but he got beat up at school."

"Shinji? Beaten up. Not unless the little bastard who did it is a fucking martial arts master."

"I don't think he fought back, the kid who attacked him . . . His sister was hurt in one of Shinji's battles."

Tanaka nodded, "Yeah, that would make sense, Shinji's never taken harming others well . . . He's not a killer, he's not a soldier, he's just a kid who knows he has to fight."

Misato glanced around to find Rei absent.

Rei hadn't gone far, only a few steps, she stood before the Mark Strife, as she had four days ago, though now the soft diffused light gave the armored heady a gentle shading of light and shadow so different from the way she had seen it under the harsh lights.

But the eyes were the same, those twin, solid blue orbs. She kept starring at them, the perfect opposite of her own crimson.

_The night air whipped past at an impossible speed as she descended the other one, the enemy fallowing her downwards towards a large bole like indentation in the earth. The enemies weapons were expended, what more could it hope to do, but it still had its weapon of choice. That lance, those cursed lances which had become the bane of her kind. She snapped around to aim, it through . . . _

"Rei . . . Rei."

Rei snapped out of her daze as Misato stood beside her, that had been a little worrying she'd never had to call Rei like that in the time she had known the girl.

"What were you thinking about?" Misato asked.

Rei starred at the Mark Strife trying to recapture that feeling. She rubbed at her side slightly, right beneath her ribs. "It is, nothing." Rei whispered simply.

"What do you think of these people Rei?" Misato asked, checking to be sure Tanaka was out of earshot. He was down at the other side of the catwalk conversing with one of the technicians.

Rei did not speak for several seconds, the Commander sometimes asked her questions, but those were usually rhetorical or at least the expected answer was obvious. Rei took those seconds to formulate her own opinion on Shinji, the Mark Strife, Yumi, and MESSIAH in general.

"They seem, adept." Rei said simply.

"At what?" Misato asked.

"At what they intend to do here." Was all Rei said in reply.

Misato stared at the Mark Strife's blue eyes with Rei. "It just seems strange that somebody else could develop such affective weapons, how do you think this will factor into our battle plans?" Yeah it was usually the kind of question Misato would have reserved for Asking Ritsuko, but with the bottle blond absent it fell upon Rei.

"The addition of two more units will greatly improve our tactical flexibility." Rei commented, tactics she knew and understood, the Commander had suggested several books on meditation along with several books on infantry tactics he felt she could translate to EVA combat. "I am, confident, that the Mark Strife and Mark Ziel will be affective against the Angels."

"You make it sound like they were built to fight the Angels like EVA." Misato said.

"Perhaps." Rei said softly.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Two days later. Rei shifted a little uncomfortably in the Mark Strife's diver pod . Shinji had continued to explain the operation of the machine to her, startlingly similar to EVA. Even providing her with a pilots manual, stripped of any non essential information and still highly classified. The manual had emphasized a pilot be comfortable, well rested, and relaxed both physically and mentally when they were first learning to pilot.

Rei didn't have much experience with any of these, perhaps being at mental and physical ease, but she had never tried to summon these mind states at will. And she only felt greater anxiety as she hesitantly placed her hands, one still bandaged, onto the control sticks. "Alright Miss Ayanami." The voice of one of the technicians observing her progress announced from a control box now built into the wall of the warehouse.

"We're going to let the Strife connect with your nervous system only at the superficial level. Don't worry, at worst you should only feel a slight sensation of vertigo."

"Understood." Rei replied.

The pod pulsed to life its spherical inner surface projecting a perfect representatiojn of the world from the Strife's point of view.

Rei felt a slight falling sensation for a moments and shifted uncomfortably, ready to pull her hands from the controls the second the Strife tried to touch her.

Shinji stood next to Tanaka and Ritsuko who had come to observe the training exercise.

"Look at this, even at a ten percent linkage rate her cross interference is clear up at thirty percent." The technician mumbled shocked.

Tanaka shifted his weight, arms crossed before him, "How the hell can she be creating so much cross interference. Hell a random guy of the street can pilot better then that. Are you sure she's a viable candidate Shinji?"

Shinji tapped a finger to his temple in explanation. "The Strife trusts her, and that's enough for me." Shinji echoed the words that the Colonel had once said to him.

"Do you mean you can converse with that thing?" Ritsuko asked.

Shinji nodded, "After a fashion, and it is not a thing, it is the Mark Strife, nothing more and nothing less. It would not call you a thing, it expects the same respect in return."

Ritsuko blinked. "So . . . It thinks?"

Shinji nodded, "Yeah, it has its own will and conciousness, I suppose you could say it even has its own heart and soul."

"You shouldn't personify machinery Shinji, no matter how good it may be." Ritsuko said.

"No, I'm not personifying, I've been inside of its mind Ritz. It has allowed me there, just as I allow it within myself. I . . . Suppose you could say it's a bond."

"EVA is similar." Ritsuko noted. "A pilot has to synchronize with the EVA in order to operate it. Though I suppose the Mark Strife is more temperamental in that reguard."

Shinji turned to her, Ritsuko froze, she had never had that gaze placed upon her. Though she knew it for it was one she had often thrown at others. In Shinji's eyes she could see that he was absolutely convinced that she could not understand.

"Ritsuko, when I say I am bonded to it, I don't just mean I use it. If the Strife is in danger I must come to it. And If I am in danger the Strife must come to me. That is the essense of what we are as individuals."

"The teleportation?" Ritsuko asked.

Shinji nodded, "Translation through the spacial medium. It homes in on me, just as the Mark Ziel would seek out Yumi."

Ritsuko nodded, she was starting to see that these things were something far grander then she had first thought.

Shinji was already studying the read outs once more. He opened up the comlink with the diver pod. "Ayanami."

"Yes." The voice was neutral.

"May I ask you a question?"

" . . . Yes."

"What calms you."

Rei blinked slightly. "Please explain."

"What do you do that makes you feel at ease, Ayanami?"

Rei considered. "I feel at ease . . . When I swim."

Shinji thought, he personally didn't like swimming, it wasn't that he couldn't. He'd been forced to learn but he felt . . . If someone was obsessed with the water and its vasteness they could lose themselves. It frightened him a little. Even so.

"What about it makes you at ease?"

"I do not understand these inquiries . . ."

"I apalogize, but please answer the question."

There was a silence that left Shinji wondering if Rei had spontaneously died on them.

"It is . . . Soothing . . . Calm . . . Quiet . . . The sense . . . Of drifting . . . In a world where . . . Nothing can hurt you . . ." Rei finished haltingly, it was the closest she had ever come to answering such a question directly.

"That's good Rei, now I want you to think of that feeling, of swimming, and drifting, the play of light on the waters surface, the calm and peace you get from it."

There was a long pause, nearly as long as several moments before.

"Cross intereference has gone down by twelve percent." The Tech reported.

Shinji nodded. "Very good Ayanami, we're going to increase the linkage to fifteen percent and focus on lowering your cross intereference to less than ten percent. Then we will move foreward, understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

Shinji frowned. "Ayanami, you do not need to call me Sir, if you want you can call me Shinji."

"As a superior officer, I am not permitted to call you by your first name, Lieutenant Ikari."

Shinji gave up shaking his head. 'We'll . . . Work on that.'

The tests proceeded from their for the next half hour. By the end of it all Rei wasn't looking to bad. Her cross intereferenc in just that hour long session went down to twenty two percent at a fifteen percent linkage rate.

As she emmerged from the diver pod a happy looking Yumi handed her a bottle of water. Rei blinked a few times before taking a sip. "Good work Miss Ayanami." Yumi said.

Rei starred at her and nodded simply before procceeding towards the hangar exit, she had to report to the commander and proceed to the EVA cage for further testing before Unit-01's scheduled activation in one months time.

Yumi watched her leave. "How strange."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"More please." Rico requested as he downed another plate full of dumplings, Shinji's cooking skill had become wide and varied since the last time they had met.

Yumi brought over a second serving, as Tanaka, Rico, and Misato sat around the dining room table. "How are things going with Rei?" Misato asked.

"She's, still having trouble linking with the Strife, its kind of like she's afraid."

"Rei, afraid?" Misato sounded shocked.

Tanaka shrugged, "Everyone has there phobia's maybe Rei is afraid the Strife will try to hurt her."

"But I don't get it, it should be like synching with an EVA, right?" Misato said.

"Not quiet." Shinji thought about it. "I haven't synched with an EVA but from what you people have said an EVA doesn't have any recognizable will of its own."

"Like the Mark Strife? I've been meaning to ask you about that Shinji, you can talk to it, can't you."

Shinji shifted a little, "Well, not so much like a conversation, more like a I can understands its intents and feelings.

"Ah, kind of like PenPen." Misato replied as she lifted said avian from the floor into her lap. The bird warked starring at Tanaka and Rico.

"Yeah kind of." Shinji agreed laughing slightly. "That's actually a pretty good analogy."

There was a slight knocking at the door. "I'll get it." Yumi said as she rushed to open the door.

"Uhm, Hello Miss Toyama." Kensuke Aida said, shifting slightly. Touji Suzuhara stood at his side quietly. "Uh, can we come in."

Yumi nodded admitting both into the living room and closing the door. This had not gone unnoticed by Shinji, instead he went back to focusing on his cooking, spicing it a little more. He didn't say a word as both boys gawked at the group at the table. Especially the hot babe that was apparently Shinji's guardian. Unfortunately their reaction to the other two was . . . less positive.

"Eh, so you're the kid who beat Shinji up?" Rico asked as he stood. He easily towered over either boy. Touji paled a little as the big man began to crack his knuckles, knuckles on hands big enough to encompass his head.

"Why are you two here anyway?" Shinji finally asked. Interupting Rico's fun.

Touji turned to him and finally spoke himself. "I . . . You didn't hurt my sister intentionally."

"Of course not!" Shinji said coldly facing him with a look of anger in his eyes.

"I was asshole man, I want you to hit."

Shinji starred at the boy like he was an idiot. "I'm not going to hit you, you were right, I hurt someone. I don't deserve to be forgiven for that."

"LOOK I'M NOT GOING TO BE SATISFIED UNTIL YOU HIT ME!" Touji shouted surprising everyone.

Shinij looked at him coldly for several more seconds then nodded. "Is that truly what you want?"

Touji nodded.

"It'll make you feel better about this?"

Again a nod.

"And you won't hold this against me?"

"Look do it already." Touji complained.

Shinji sighed. "Very well." One second Touji was standing the next he was flying backwards his nose crushed into his face, blood spraying from it.

Misato starred shocked, "SHINJI!"

Yumi was surprised as well, Shinji had never acted so violently. But her faith in him was restored quickly as he went into the kitchen and came back out with an ice pack. Handing it to Touji.

"Yu bro mah noze." He said dazed.

"Yeah and if we don't take care of it you might have some problems, hold still."

"Yu bro mah noze!" Touji sounded more shocked this time.

Shinji brushed the boys hands from his face looking at the blood poring from his nose. He took Touji's broken nose and snapped in back in place, eliciting a soft curse from the boy. Shinji handed him a wad of paper towels and the Ice Pack once more. The boy accepted them stupidly.

Kensuke's jaw had nearly hit the floor, Shinji had just taken Touji down with one hit. Combined with how he dodged if Shinji had really tried Touji would have been cut to pieces in a fight.

"Yu pun' harr" Touji muttered as he wiped his nose. Shinji was already pulling out a first aid kit with some medical tape.

"You learn to leverage your weight when you don't have much strength." Shinji explained. "You'll want to get this checked by a doctor to be sure it heals properly."

Touji accepted the help quietly before Shinji helped him to his feet. "How about you two stay for dinner." Shinji suggested smiling a little sadly but still sincerely.

Touji looked at him like he was nuts.

"Really!" Kensuke asked.

Shinji nodded. "You two were the ones who decided an eye for an eye was good idea, well that debts paid then, and we'll have plenty tonight since I'm already cooking for five."

Both boys nodded in agreement. Free food was always a plus.

The antics of the fallowing meal amused Shinji to no end as Touji tried some of the spice peppers Rico had brought. He looked like an N2 mine had gone off on his tongue. Rico and Tanaka enjoyed the time with there young friend, once charge, now subordinate, always comrade.

Misato was starting to think she could enjoy being around these people as she started on a third Yebisu with a slight snap hiss of the lid.

Yumi sat next to Shinji feeling comfortable in his presence and happy that this situation had been resolved.

Touji and Kensuke left that night knowing that they were welcome back any time. Rico and Tanaka left only slightly later.

"That reminds me." Misato said looking to Tanaka and Rico.

"Meet us tomorrow we're going to go take a look at the remains of the angel Shinji defeated when he got here. Ritsuko says she may have some information on what we're facing."

Tanaka nodded , "We'll be sure to be there."

The two men left with a slight wink and bow, it was time to sleep.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Completion of the Mark Sin, mass production units is as follows.

Units Beelzebub and Bandersnatch have exceeded 36 completion. Units Azazel, Samael, are currently at 52 muscle skeletons completed to the second layer. Pilots have already been selected through our ties with the educational systems and militaries in Australia, Canada, and Korea."

The man nodded as his companion completed her report. They stood now before the Mark Fear, its black armor covering it from crested head to hardened toe, and liquid blue eyes starring down at them.

"Ironic to think that SEELE's simple disinterest in the less powerful countries of the world has allowed us to move under the radar."

"Too true." The woman agreed.

"Still that also puts us at a disadvantage sir, we estimate at least eight mass production units are being built by SEELE, but other then the Mark Fear we only have the MP prototypes even now, and the other projects are not even close to completion."

"Truth." The man agreed starring up at his old companion, the eyes of man and machine locked.

"That is why . . ." He continued. " . . . I will be heading to the Canadian base to oversee the final activation of the Eldridge."

"Sir? Its near completion already!" The woman sounded shocked.

The man shook his head. "No, even putting our backs into it now she is less then sixty seven percent comlete, but we're accelerating the completion schedule. With any luck she'll be able to move and fight when we need her."

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather put those resources into completing the Mark Sin units?"

The man shook his head. "No, the resources we are putting into the Eldridge would be of no use on any other project, I'll be leaving the Kyouto base in your capable hands Doctor Toyama."

"Of course Takashi." She said, using the mans first name to show she wished to address him as a friend. "Stay safe Colonel."

"I will." The man agreed, smiling, "After all, I still need to see that idiot of a son of mine one more time. I need to be sure he doesn't still blame himself for his brothers death."

The woman nodded. "May your journey be made swiftly and safely Colonel, and may we meet again soon." With that the woman headed back to her office there was still so very much left to do.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Messiah Mecha

AMS (Armored Maneuvering System.)

Height: 5.2 meters, MP. 5.4 meters, Command.

Weight: 7.8 tons, MP. 8.1 tons, Command.

Power supply: Transmission power from fixed energy tap, limited endurance Cold Fusion reactor (Flight pack only.)

Armament: 25mm Sub machine gun, 35 mm Assault Rifle, 55 mm high velocity sniper rifle, Lancaster Affect Staff, Lancaster Affect Sword.

Special equipment: Aquatic operations packs, heavy armor pack, flight pack, bombardment pack, sniper pack.

Affector drones.

Height: 1.5cm to 3meters in Diameter.

Weight: 4 grams to one hundred and fifty kilo's.

Power Supply: Transmission power from external power tap, internal capacitor (larger models.)

Armament: 5.56 millimeter SMG, .50 cal Machine Gun, 44 mm grenade launcher. (Security models only.)

Special equipment: AI

Next Chapter: Unit-01 is finally activated just in time as the 5th Angel makes its appearance, the Strife takes a direct hit from the Ramael's particle gun but with a little ingenuity and a helping hand from the AMS corps Misato and Tanaka come up with a plan to penetrate the defenses with the Ultimate in Giant Robot Packed heavy artillery.

Next Chapter, A Gunman's War in Tokyo-3.


	5. A Gunman's War in Tokyo3

Chapter Five: A Gunman's War in Tokyo-3

Well, Still don't own any of the rights to EVA, which makes me cry. If I ever take over the world with my space nazi army, EVA will be mine THEN, but not now. So just enjoy as I am making no profit out of this. In fact, technically I'm SPENDING money to do it, electricity and such. Whatever R&R then poke me with a stick.

Author Note: Naming names, well lets put it this way, Ziel is the spelling of Zeal in German if I remember correctly, just as shrek translates as terror some of the machines have names that are still recognizable but not necessarily in English. As for the Eldridge, nobody said it was one of the Mark Unit's now did they -

And thank you for the complement on MESSIAH, what I wanted to do was create another organization that is much more organized into a logical force then NERV, such as the supporting AMS which are pretty useless against Angels but will make good support troops. I also wanted to create a balance between super robot and military robot anime in this as I've been balanced between watching Gunbuster 2 and some random Gundam.

Oh and one more question please read this chapter and tell me whether this could get way with a T rating I'm trying to improve my viewer base. If not I have a similar story planned to be released with a T rating under a totally different but interesting set of circumstances.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So, this is the enemy." Shinji commented as he looked up at the ruined bulk of the 3rd Angel.

"Know thy enemy and know thy self and in a thousand battles . . ." Tanaka began.

"You will never be in peril." Misato finished nodding up at the huge creatures broadside. "Hard to think this thing could have given us so much trouble."

"It's the unexpected things in life that make themselves a bitch to take care of." Rico added as trailed beside them. Yumi ran back and forth observing the work around them, obviously impressed by it all.

Doctor Akagi was looking over several samples of the Angels remains when they came in. "This is perfect, other then the core most of the main body is more or less intact. Thanks Shinji this'll be a great help" She said looking at the slabs of the creatures green carcass. Ok so Shinji had torn it limb from limb it was still in pretty good condition despite its messy death. Admittedly the parts not covered in bakelite were starting to reek as some kind of bacteria finally got in that could eat the Angel's body.

The group huddled around a computer set up watching as the analyses was completed. 801 appeared on the screen.

"What does that mean?" Misato asked.

"Its our systems code for 'cannot be analyzed'", Ritsuko explained.

"So you don't have a clue?" Tanaka asked.

"Well, yeah." Ritsuko admitted. "But we have found that the Angel is composed of a type of matter characteristic of both particulate and waveform properties." Ritsuko commented.

"You mean this thing can fucking transmute matter and energy?" Tanaka whispered.

Ritsuko nodded, "That would fit with its demonstrated abilities, and explain where all the power it was generating was going to."

"So you have at least found its power source, right." Misato said.

"Yes." Ritsuko nodded, though we really can't tell much about its underlying capabilities considering its state." She glanced at Shinji.

"Hay don't look at me, I just started taking it apart until it stopped twitching." Ritsuko nodded, "I suppose that's actually fortunate for you. You and Yumi inadvertently destroyed the core, which seems to be the only thing common to both of the angel's we've engaged. Destroy the core and you kill the Angel so that should always be your target."

Shinji nodded.

"The really strange thing about the angels though is this." A new string of data popped up.

Tanaka whistled, "Fuck, we're that similar?"

Ritsuko nodded, "Despite their unusual nature there is a 99.98 percent match between angel and human waveforms."

"Ok, that means absolutely nothing to me." Rico cut in.

"It means that we're very similar to them, like same genus similar." Tanaka explained.

Yumi looked at the readouts curious. "So, we're killing humans?" She asked sounding a little worried.

"No, there not human." Misato said reassuring the girl. 'Nothing like those monsters could be human.'

Shinji had caught site of the Commander not far from him. The older man seemed transfixed by a ruined piece of the third Angels core. 'What the?' Shinji saw Gendo remove a glove revealing the burns on his hands as he examined the core.

"Hey what are you looking at Shinji?" Misato asked.

"Nothing." He said quickly.

Misato sighed, "Don't you know saying nothing in that tone of voice is practically drawing attention to yourself?"

"Ladies got a point man." Tanaka chimed in. Rico nodded in agreement with his superior.

"Ugh, fine, what's with the bastard's hands?"

"Bastard?" Tanaka and Rico asked.

"He means Commander Ikari." Misato explained, "And I don't know, Ritsuko do you know anything about it?"

The bottle blond frowned, "It happened a while before you joined us." Ritsuko began. "There was an accident involving Unit-00, Commander Ikari opened the superheated hatch on the entry plug and extracted the pilot. If they had waited for retrieval teams to arrive Rei may have died from internal bleeding."

Shinji starred back at the man, "Well I'll be damned, I guess you can be a good Commander without being a decent human being."

"Hmmm, there's a lot you don't know about your father Shinji." Ritsuko said as she stood up. "I have other business to attend to, your free to look around as long as your don't tamper with anything."

"You were right, she's very business oriented." Tanaka commented to Misato.

"No kidding." Shinji and Yumi agreed almost simultaneously.

Rico shook his head at the two kids. "That's what we call a lady with a bit of class, Shinji." The big man said, his heavy New York born accent coming through even to his Japanese. "Makes certain to get her job done first, dresses conservatively, those are the real catches."

The big olive skinned man glanced quickly to Misato.

Misato caught the glance and growled at him, getting into an argument over her tastes.

"Its no wonder your unwed . . ."

". . . Unwed . . . Gah and who cares about being married in this day and age . . ."

" . . . thought it was a big cultural thing in this country . . ."

"Yeah well what about Ritsuko . . ."

"She has the excuse of being a busy doctor . . ."

". . . Hay I'm busy too . . ."

" . . . Not too busy to be home for three meals a day from what Shinji says . . ."

Shinji had the wisdom of not getting involved in this little battle of the wills, instead his mind was focused on his fathers hands, his father's burned hands . . .

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji yawned slightly as he proceeded down the corridors of the GeoFront. He looked at the picture on the card he carried again. 'She's a pretty girl if only she'd smile a little more . . .'

He thought back to the time a few days ago he had been present to observe Rei's synch tests. Ritsuko had been kind enough to explain the training to him. It seemed pretty straightforward though he didn't look forward to either breathing LCL or wearing a skintight synthetic fiber suit which looked vaguely like something from an Science Fiction themed porn movie. But the thing that had troubled him the most was the big exaggerated grin she'd given Gendo when he came to speak with her.

It was irritating to see anyone showing that man affection, and heartbreaking that Rei could call that false mask a smile. But . . . He'd seen it in her eyes, the desperate need to make the Commander happy. 'Why?' 'Commander Ikari opened the superheated hatch on the entry plug . . . May have died from internal bleeding.' The thought resonated in his mind. 'Does she feel . . . Indebted to him? No its something more then that the devotion in her eyes, that goes beyond fanaticism.'

He snapped off that track of thought as he reached the dormitories. Ritsuko had said Rei had moved in here shortly after his arrival, apparently to facilitate better security. Her apartment had also been destroyed when the haymacker he'd laid on the 3rd Angel had sent it flying into entire block. But Ritsuko had decided not to make Shinji feel any more guilty for what he couldn't help.

The appropriate room was at the end of the hallway, a plain gray door with Ayanami R. above it, Room 304. 'This is the place.'

He knocked slightly but received no reply, shrugging, he checked the door. It slid open easily, revealing a room messy enough to make his eye twitch in horror. Bloody bandages lay strewn about, uncollected Styrofoam plates from the cafeteria, rotting food, dirty underwear. It was the underwear that nearly gave him a heart attack. His instinctive fear of all things female coming to the forefront. The one thing his friendship with Yumi hadn't helped him with was women's undergarments considering Yumi more often then not would just as easily wear a pair of boxers.

In his shock he stepped further into the room passing the restroom without noticing the sound of running water.

The underground apartment room wasn't particularly big, a single room with a washroom by the door. A bed in one corner, a dresser beside it a few chairs and a desk. It was in fact reminiscent of a cheap hotel room, though Shinji suspected that it had been much cleaner before its current resident had moved in. The sad thing was that for Rei this was in fact an improvement.

Shinji placed the ID card down on Rei's bed next to a clean set of school close where she was sure not to miss it. He looked about noting the loose comfortable shirt and pants Yumi had provided Rei for the training exercises with the Mark Strife, they seemed to be the only thing laying out with the exception of the school close that were clean.

Them and . . . Shinji starred at the dressed. 'Rei doesn't wear glasses.' Shinji noted walking up to the dresser. He took the glasses off and looked at the Frames. "Gendo . . ." He muttered as he saw the name printed on their side, he could tell they were heat warped, one of the lenses was cracked. "Was he wearing these . . . When he saved her?" Out of curiosity Shinji put the glasses on.

A door slid open. Shinji turned, and paled, he wasn't un accustomed to a naked girl, but he was also a fairly respectful person. Those times he had seen Yumi unclothed had been out of necessity, not to say he would have minded, perhaps, one day, doing it out of something else, but here it was because of his gross disrespect of another's personnel space.

He stood frozen for several seconds. Rei regarded him coldly and then advanced across the room with a few short determined steps, pulling the glasses from his face. This caused a rather interesting chain of events as he tried to avoid touching her, her skin still hot and damp from the shower pressed against his shirt, along with something else . . . He pressed himself farther against the dresser causing Rei to reach further and then he whiplashed back forward on top of her.

They were silent for several long seconds, Rei starred up at Shinji who looked frozen as if his brain was trying to process what he saw. She felt . . . Uncomfortable laying like this, she didn't know why . . . But she didn't like it.

"Would you . . . Get off." Rei asked quietly.

Shinji really what he was doing and snapped up rod straight face flushed red. "I a-apologize I didn't meant t-to . . ."

"Why are you here?" Rei asked quickly.

"Uh, mmm, yo-your ID card, Ri-Ritsuko said." He tried to spasm out. Ritsuko had asked her to deliver the card to Rei any time before she left the GeoFront after the activation tests would have been fine but he'd simply decided to do it now. A big mistake.

"So uhm, he-here . . ." He blinked in surprise as the door closed.

Shinji hurried back to trail behind Rei who was already dressed and well down the hallway heading for the elevators.

This section of the GeoFront was directly above the pilot lockers but the express elevator had been equipped with a security card reader recently due to the Arrival of MESSIAH's maintenance detachment, which was still, maddeningly sneaking supplies into the city without Section Two being able to track them.

Rei ran her ID card through the reader and frowned as it flashed red, she ran into again, and then a third time growing frustrated.

"Here." Shinji offered, sliding the new ID card. He handed it to her. "Ritsuko told me to give this to you."

Rei starred for a moment and then took the card from his hand sharply, proceeding into the elevator. Shinji dashed in before the doors shut on him. Something he'd learned about NERV there elevators did not have safeties on the doors.

He felt the elevator begin its decent and ventured a glance at Rei. She was starring emotionlessly at the elevator doors.

Shinji spoke. "Are you afraid of piloting EVA, Rei?"

No response.

"I, heard about the tests with Unit-00, I'm sorry you had to go through something like that."

Rei still didn't reply. "Does, the Commander make you pilot?" He asked disgust in his voice as he said 'commander'.

Rei finally spoke, "Commander Ikari, you distrust him."

"Of course, the mans a cold hearted bastard who'll only do something if its in his own interests."

Rei stiffened very slightly and then turned slowly around facing Shinji.

There was anger in her eyes as she slapped, furious that somebody would insult HER Commander. She blinked in surprise as Shinji gripped her hand at the wrist, stopping it inches from his face. His eyes were filled with surprise and a little shame. "I apologize if insulting him affects you Rei, but I would not strike you for liking him, I ask that you don't strike me for expressing my legitimately concluded views."

Rei starred at him, looking angry and then a very slight redness crossed her face in embarrassment, she had nearly struck a superior officer, even if his rank was only relevant in the absence of other NERV personnel.

Shinji released her hand. "I'm . . . sorry I didn't mean to offend you." He said sincerely. The elevator opened onto the level of the pilot lockers. Rei got off.

"Good luck today, Ayanami."

Rei did not reply instead choosing to ignore him utterly.

'What a strange girl . . . Yumi really hasn't been able to do much with her either.' Shinji thought as he road the elevator up two levels to the catwalks of MESSIAH's enclave. The Mark Strife had been requested to be put on standby incase of a berserker episode with Unit-01 such as the one with Unit-00.

The elevator doors opened once more. "Hate me if you have to, I wouldn't blame you. Just . . . Don't die kid."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tanaka stood next to Misato as the two Captains observed the activation of Unit-01 from a viewing deck.

"So this is one of NERV's vaunted Evangelions", Tanaka whispered. He had to admit it was no slouch for looks.

"Yeah, until you guy s came along we liked to think of it as the last hope for mankind against the angel."

"Its still one of our last hopes, just not the only one." Tanaka said.

"That's true." Misato agreed. They both went silent as the activation test began.

"Activation voltage has past critical point." Maya announced as she sat next to the other bridge members in the activation stations.

"Connect pilot to Unit-01." Aoba reported.

"Opening circuits."

"Pulse and harmonics are normal." Ritsuko reported.

"No problems detected, we are in sync."

"All nerve links complete, central nerve elements are nominal."

"Checklist is satisfactory, up to 2590. Approaching critical mark, 2.5 more, 1.7, 1.2, 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1, and rising! Borderline cleared." Maya reported, she looked up. "Unit-01 has been activated."

Rei nodded to herself in the entry plug, "Roger, beginning interlock tests."

A phone rang in the test control room. Fuyutsuki picked it up and listened. He looked to Gendo, "Ikari, an unidentified object is rapidly approaching NERV central. It may be the 5th Angel."

"Abort the test. Place all operations on first stage alert." Gendo ordered. On cue the alarms began to sound warning both NERV and MESSIAH personnel of the impending attack.

"Your not going to use Unit-01 yet, are you?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"No, she's not ready for combat yet." 'Neither of them are . . .' Gendo thought to himself. "What is the Mark Strife's status."

"Lieutenant Ikari is currently on standby, the Strife can be ready to launch in one hundred and fifty seconds." Operative Captain Tanaka informed as he came rushing in, Misato right behind him.

Gendo nodded, "Make it so." He turned back to view Unit-01 standing in the activation cage. "Rei, the activation tests have been completed. Return now."

"Yes Sir." Rei whispered, the plug went through its standard deactivation procedure leaving her in a cool darkness for a few moments. Unseen to anyone Rei laid her head back, and exhaled a soft stream CO2 bubbles as she sighed in relief.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So its stopped dead above us?" Shinji asked.

"Bad choice of words, but yeah." Rico replied as he spoke with Shinji over the com line. "Unit-01 isn't ready to fight yet, and we don't know what were facing so we're going to scramble you to see what you can see."

"Roger."

Shinji blinked in surprise as he saw Rei standing on a nearby platform, she seemed to be waiting to watch the strife launch. Shinji grinned and manipulated the Strife's left hand to give her a Victory sign. She cocked her head curiously. Shinji sighed, he would definitely have to spend more time with Yumi and Rei. Even after spending a month with the girl he hadn't really made any progress with her as a person, and he was certain that if she didn't learn to open up she would never get past her current ratio of 30 percent linkage with 10 percent cross interference.

That was the last thought he had time for as he was locked into position on the launch ramp.

"Releasing primary lock bolts". Hyugga reported.

Misato and Tanaka stood on the second bridge tier watching as the bridge crew went through the launch preparations.

"Removing secondary restraints." Hyugga continued.

"Roger." Shinji replied bringing up a holographic wire frame of the strife showing that all of the locking rings attaching it to the lift were still green.

"The target is now intruding into lake Ashino airspace." Aoba announced.

"Mark Strife is ready to launch." Hyugga announced.

"Lau -"

"Launch Strife!" Misato was cut off by Captain Tanaka.

Their was a flash of sparks and the Strife was hurled up to meet the 5th Angel.

Aoba's eyes widened, "We're detecting a high energy build up inside the target.'

"What did you say?" Misato shouted.

"What the hell?" Tanaka said almost simultaneously.

"The energy torus is accelerating and massing upon itself!" Aoba said.

"It can't be!" Ritsuko's eyes widened.

"Its going to fire!" Tanaka finished. 'It knew he was coming!'

The Strife reached ground level, just in time for Shinji to receive a warning from Misato.

"Shinji, look out, duck!"

"Uh?" Unfortunately the release locks had not yet finished detaching, the Strife was a sitting duck. Shinji saw it though, or felt it through the Strife to be precise, the electro magnetic build up. -Realization!- Was the Strife's sole thought as the 5th Angel fired, punching clean through an armored building between its floating form and the lift to hit the Strife.

Taking matters into its own hands the Strife activated its Affector throwing up a magnetic field to at least spread the shots energy. Shinji screamed as the particle beam punched through the Strife's hasty defense and burned into the out armor.

"RETRIEVE THE PILOT NOW!" Tanaka roared.

The lift descended back into the GeoFront at slightly less than terminal velocity.

"Pilot Status?" Tanaka asked.

"Pilots heartbeat is irregular."

"Hyugga, take over here, I'm heading to the hangar." Misato ordered. Tanaka was close behind her taking another one of the one man elevators off of the bridge to get to Shinji.

Ritsuko cursed as she watched the Strife continue its decent along the transport system. Maya's eyes widened. "The pilots heart beat has stopped."

Ritsuko's snapped around, is there anything we can do from here? She asked.

"Negative ma'am." Aoba replied, "The auto doctor in the pod is already doing everything it can, he wouldn't be any better off in an entry plug."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yumi ran as hard as she could, her pace would have put a cheetah to shame as she narrowly avoided a technical crew, slamming into, and cracking one of the hardened plastic walls of the GeoFront to send herself ricocheting on a new heading, as she forced her way to the hangar. This wasn't the MESSIAH section of the GeoFront, it was an intermediate arming and equipping station normally used for outfitting the EVA's with special equipment.

Misato and Tanaka appeared a level above her already trying to get to the catwalk to reach the diver pod.

"We can't get the pod to eject, the armor plating has fused to the muscle skeleton." One of the techs reported.

Yumi's eyes widened as she saw how bad the damage was. "Shinji Sama!" She cried.

If they didn't get Shinji out soon, he'd be as good as dead. The Strife seemed to realize this as well, and in an act of initiative it would only take in extreme circumstances it took control of its body, blue eyes flashing to life as one massive arm came up to tear the ruined upper chest armor from its locks.

The armor tore away in a shrieking shower of sparks, revealing the Strife's terribly blistered muscle skeleton, burned so badly in some places that the sickly pale gray/green of muscle fibers could be seen showing through the coal black internal armor. Nano-paste flowed like thick black blood into the damaged sections as the Strife repaired its muscle skeleton and internal armor layers.

Then in a slightly nauseating motion the upper pectoral muscle clusters rippled and split aside like a jacket unzipping, revealing the safely nestled divers pod.

The pod unfolded on its aperture directly adjacent to the catwalk, emergency bolts blew unhinging the entire forward section of the pod. Yumi was the first one to approach, pulling Shinji from the diver seat she laid him out on the catwalk, unbuttoning his shirt to check him over. Shinji wore whatever he had on when piloting just like Yumi did. They'd gone through a phase of trying suits designed to enhance the receptor system in the Mark Units but that had been only a marginal success as the discomfort of wearing the suit generated cross interference during activation, and in fact often created unnecessary interference in the relay process.

'He's not breathing she realized in horror.' Thinking quickly, she started resuscitation, solid steady breathes into his mouth fallowed by hard swift compressions of his chest.

Misato and Tanaka finally reached them, "Shinji!" Misato shouted trying to reach the prone boy. Tanaka stopped her with one solid arm and tapped his watch. Misato glanced at it, the numbers were flashing and shifting as if the watch was on the fritz. "Yumi must be using her Affector to emulate his heart beat, she's trying to restart his heart, we shouldn't interfere." He said sternly. God how he wanted to interfered by Yumi had a better chance of resuscitating him then he or Misato, hell a better chance than any medical team in NERV.

'Please, please Shinji Sama.' Yumi's eyes started to tear up, she forced down one more time. A hacking, pained gasp for air made her eyes widen, she leaned over Shinji.

The first thing Shinji saw as he came back to the world, was a familiar face silhouetted in the harsh light, "Yu?" He asked weakly.

Yumi nodded, her eyes stinging. "Did you . . . Get the license of that truck?" He asked. She collapsed on top of Shinji, laughing, and crying as she hugged him around the neck. He blinked a few more times before wrapping his own arms around her, stroking the back of her head. "I'm fine, Yu, I'm fine."

Misato was next to him in an instant, Tanaka close behind her, both looked concerned but relieved as Yumi helped him sit up slowly.

"Can you move?" Tanaka asked concerned as he took his young friends arm.

"I'd really rather not." Shinji admitted before nodding, "But yeah, I think so."

Both Captains sighed in relief, "You had us worried Shinji." Misato said.

"I bet, but I couldn't die . . . They'd make me fill out the paperwork."

Misato laughed, as she and Yumi helped him stand, "Looks like we're going to need a plan B." Tanaka commented.

"Looks that way." Misato agreed. 'No if we can only figure out what that plan is.'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Just off the shore of lake Ashino a small boat moved as high speed, pulling a life size inflatable replica of EVA Unit-01 behind it. When the order was given a line was cut causing a pistol in the decoy balloon's hand. Almost instant the decoy was vaporized as the 5th Angel, looking like a pair of glass pyramid glued together at the bases, registered it as a target firing a powerful particle beam from its equator.

"It's accelerated particle beam cannon has hit the balloon. The decoy's been vaporized." Aoba reported, shaking his head.

"Ok, lets try the next one." Misato ordered.

Not far from decoys destruction site a type 12 high velocity low angle mortar was drawn out of a hidden weapons site. The stubby weapon fired sending its projectile down range to be reflected harmlessly off the Angel's AT field. An instant later the Angel responded in kind with its particle cannon.

"The Type-12 mortar has been vaporized." Aoba said.

"Yeah I can see that." Misato sighed.

"Hmmm, one more thing left to try then." Tanaka said. He opened a com line, "Yumi, are you in position?"

High above on the surface, moving around the shoulder of one of the hills for cover, Yumi brought the Mark Ziel and its now infamous 5000 Caliber high velocity rifle to bear. She shouldered the weapon in the Ziel's heavy weapons arms, the lesser normal arms taking their positions to handle precision aiming. "Target ranged . . ." Yumi squinted slightly, took a breath, held it, and fired.

The round was just as devastating as her last, a shell traveling so fast that if she didn't shoot with the mountains as a back stop it was likely the shell would arc off into an inhabited city literally hundreds of miles away. The shell roared across the lake, raising a wall of water behind it, and stopped instantly by the Angel's AT field. The now blunted oval of glowing, superheated alloy and composites quivered as its shockwave caught up with it, and then skipped off on a high arcing trajectory that the MAGI later computed sent it off into mid Pacific.

Yumi had a good idea what was coming next and moved fast, not letting the surprise that her shot had failed to penetrate slow her. An instant later the place where the Mark Ziel had been crouching was vaporized in a flash of light and heat.

"Well . . . I'm spent for idea's unless you want me to go up there and use harsh language on it." Tanaka commented dryly.

Misato shook her head, "We'll just need to think of a plan."

Hyuga decided now would be the best time to cut in, he'd been trying for a long time to get Misato's attention, and now here was a chance for him to impress her with his own analysis. "We've concluded from the data collected that the Angel attacks any moving object that enters a pre determined proximity to it. So there is a 100 percent probability that it will engage anything that attempts to approach, its too risky for close range combat in an EVA isn't it?"

"Probably . . . What's the status of the targets AT field?" Misato asked.

A recording of the first shot from the Type-12 mortar, and the 5000 caliber rifle played on the screen. "Its still active, the Field is strong enough that the spatial change in phase are visible . . . And needless to say conventional means of attack such as guided missiles, artillery and bombs would do more damage to us then the angel."

"Yeah offensively and defensively its almost perfect, a real flying fortress." Misato agreed. "And what's the angels current position." Misato asked?

"At this moment the target is directly above us, penetrating the Tokyo-3 null zone. A giant shield with a diameter of 17.5 meters is boring towards Nerv HQ." Hyuga said.

"There are so many dirty jokes I could make about that." Tanaka coughed.

Misato gave him a quick angry glance but had to agree. "Sassy bastard, and what's its estimated time of arrival?"

"Assuming no change in drill speed the Angel will penetrate breach the GeoFront, 6 minutes and 54 seconds after midnight. By that time it will have breached all twenty two layers of defensive armor." Hyuga said. "But . . . what good will drilling one hole do?" Hyuga asked.

"It's not going to drill just one . . ." Tanaka muttered. "Here, here, here, and here." He continued pointing out a series of points directly between various lifts shafts. "I'll bet you those are its next drills sites, give it five or six days and . . ."

"It'll bring the whole city down on top of us." Misato finished.

"Maybe we should just raise a white flag." Hyuga said.

"Perhaps not . . ." Tanaka muttered looking at the layout of launch sites around Toyko-3.

"Look here Captain, these buildings would completely hide the launch of Unit-01 and the Mark Strife."

"What are you thinking?" Misato asked. Tanaka explained, she disagreed with some of the small points, but in the end with Hyuga, Tanaka, and herself arguing it out they came up with something, stupid, dangerous, and highly unusual. Which of course meant, she liked it.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So we're going to use a sniper to take it out?" Shinji asked.

"That's the basic plan." Tanaka agreed as he sat, one leg crossed on his affector ball, floating a few meters above Shinji's head.

"What about the target's AT field?" Rei asked softly as she stood beside Yumi and Shinji on the second level of the bridge.

"That's where Unit-01 comes in", Tanaka said.

"To put it simply, we are going to deploy Unit-01 and the Mark Strife in close proximity to the 5th Angel. You will then advance using the Strife as a shield to get Unit-01 within range to neutralize the AT field." Misato explained.

An image appeared on the main monitor of Central Dogma, a Chibi Unit one and Chibi Mark Strife advanced down a street with the 5th Angel floating at the end. The Angel fired, but the Strife pulled out a shield and continued to advance Unit-01 right behind it. Just before the Strife reached the Angel the shield flashed out of existence like a power up bonus in an old video game leaving the Chibi Strife to take the damage directly for half a second. In that time Unit-01 got in directly next to the Angel. The AT field flickered out of existence.

The image zoomed out to show a chibi Mark Ziel wielding its impossibly heavy sniper rifle. The cannon fired, punching a neat whole through the Angel.

All three mecha turned to face the screen and gave small V's. Unit-01 and the Mark Ziel were fine, though the Mark Strife was toasted a golden brown.

"We'll be using Unit-01 to neutralize the AT field due to an EVA's ability to negate the Angel's field instantly while a Mark Unit would need to lower the field using sustained conventional fire after disabling its ability to regenerate." Tanaka said.

"And you . . . Consider using me as an Angel chew toy to be a good idea?" Shinji asked neutrally.

"Look at it this way, you'll be protecting a damsel who would otherwise be in distress." Tanaka said as he lowered his affector ball to poke Shinji in the ribs.

"Besides were handing out a thermal Shield provided by NERV and the Mark Strife's armored overcoat so you'll have plenty of armor to take the blast, both have an EM base layer, that, combined with your affector should let you stand up to the blast for a whole thirty seconds."

Shinji nodded, "Great so I have thirty seconds before I become a microwave treat for squat, equiangular, and ugly out there."

"Yeah, pretty much." Misato agreed.

Yumi looked at the screen, "Is there any risk of the Mark Ziel being attacked instead?"

Misato shook her head. "The Mark Ziel will be stationed outside of the Angel's engagement zone, it should have its attention fixed on the Mark Strife, but you'll have to take it out in the first shot. Aim for the center, if the Angel follows its basic design principal all the way through its core will be right in the middle."

Misato nodded to Hyugga, who coughed and removed a small booklet from his pocket. "This is a briefing of the operation Yashima time tables." Hyuga began.

"At 2000 hours Operative Cadet Toyama will be deployed with the Mark Ziel to the temporary base as Mt. Funteko to prepare for the operation. At 2200 hours Lieutenant Ikari and Pilot Ayanami will commence preparations and final equipment load out of the Mark Strife and Unit-01 respectively. At 2300 hours final operations checks will commence, at 0000 hours the operation will commence, operation completion time is to be no later than 0007 hours."  
Hyuga closed the booklet.

"This operation was decided upon after considerable deliberation between both the NERV and MESSIAH tactical staff with input from the MAGI as well. It has the highest probability for success we've been able to come up with. You all have your instructions, dismissed." Misato said.

All three pilots nodded, "Yes Ma'am."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Six hours later Shinji say on the catwalk before the Mark Strife as it lay directly beneath its launch point clad in its knee length black armored overcoat, what the techs liked to call Shinji's coat from hell due to all of the weapons and armor that had been stashed inside of it. Unit-01, to his left side, its wickedly horned head rising nearly to rival the Strife him, its pilot Rei Ayanami sat in her plugsuit, knees tucked up to her chin.

They'd sat like this for the last half hour awaiting the launch order. "Ayanami . . . Why do you do this?"

"Do what?" Rei asked not looking away from Unit-01.

"Pilot these things, from what I've heard they've caused you nothing but pain."

Rei bowed her head down, it wasn't an entirely bad question, Unit-00 had been a cold weight on her shoulders for so long, and despite being transferred to Unit-01 her life was still no less Spartan or difficult. "I am bonded to it." She said softly.

"Bonded." Shinji asked, he kicked himself for never asking Rei about the EVA's before.

"Yes. A bond."

"Do you mean to the Commander, or to EVA?"

"Not just to them. To all people." Rei said softly.

Shinji smiled weakly, "You make it sound like you were made to pilot EVA."

There was no reply.

Shinji had one more question. "Ayanami, are you afraid that we'll fail."

"No. I am confident that you and Cadet Toyama will succeed in your duty. I will do the same."

Shinji nodded, "I'll succeed Ayanami, I'll protect you, we'll both succeed so that Yumi will be safe too." Rei nodded, "If I fail to neutralize the AT field then neither of you will survive to make it to a lift. I will protect you as well."

Shinji shuddered a little at how she said those words so neutrally, she sounded like the thought of her own death bored her.

"You're a far stronger person than me Rei." Shinji finally said respectfully.

"I have nothing else." Rei whispered softly. 'EVA is all that I am . . .'

Rei cut her own thoughts short, standing quickly. "It is time to go . . . Goodbye Shinji."

With that Rei walked along the catwalk to Unit-01's entry plug leaving Shinji gapping. 'Goodbye? Does this girl intend to die out there?'

He shook his head, Rei wouldn't die because he would cover her even if she was a proving a pain in the ass to get through to he felt there must be some sort of potential beneath it all. Something else kept tugging at the back of his mind, a false smile he wanted to see her smile at least out of happiness.

He brushed that thought away and focused on the Strife as he entered the divers pod. "Has she attempted to speak with you?"

-Negative-

"Is she aware of your presence?"

-Aversion, affirmative, troubled-

"You mean your troubled or she is?"

-Troubled- The Strife insisted, in a way that emphasized both of them in his mind.

"So Rei is troubled too."

-Agreement-

"Do you still think it is a good idea for her to pilot.

-Affirmative, confidence, acknowledgment- The strife replied as the lift was readied.

"You've always been stubborn."

-Indifferent Agreement-

"Very well. We'll make sure Rei gets through this alive so we can get her up to snuff."

-Tugging, Elaboration, Agreement-

Shinji blinked at the sensations as he worked out what the strife was trying to say, it wasn't just using its thought language this time. It looked through his memories and showed him memories of spending time with Yumi and then flashed images of Rei.

"You want ME to be her friend?"

-Agreement-

"I'm supposed to train her to pilot not get close to her, you remember the . . ."

-Irritation- Images of Tanaka and Rico flashed before him showing how his own trainers had become closely involved with him. Images of the Colonel who had told him to forget that bull about not getting involved if you genuinely understood love then being involved would not affect you on the battle field.

"Is this the time to be talking about this?"

-Irritation-

He sighed, "Will it make you feel better about all of this?"

-Agreement-

Shinji closed his eyes, then nodded. "Yeah your write, Yumi's trying to be her friend but she may need to take the initiative . . . And . . . She seems so sad."

-Sincere Agreement- Even the Strife had sensed her sadness, more so, it had sensed that Rei didn't even understand she was in pain. What was causing this the Strife could not tell, the girl had not opened herself to it enough for it to share thoughts and memories with her. Though it suspected that she may have begun to hear its surface emotions, great progress from her first time.

And then there was no time to think as the Strife and Unit-01 rocketed to the surface.

It was dark when Shinji hit ground level, the timer began alerting him that Unit-01 had only five minutes of power. They couldn't use the umbilical cable with this plan if they wanted Unit-01 to retain the speed to get inside the 5th Angels firing shadow. 'An umbilical cable, some ultimate weapon for mankind.' Shinji though rolling his eyes as he extracted the thermal shield from the weapons locker in front of him.

"Ayanami stay tight."

"Affirmative Lieutenant Ikari." Rei replied.

They advanced down the street, the final building before their turn was coming up, as soon as they hit the main street the countdown began for how long Shinji could last against the hellish blast of that monsters particle cannon. Shinji was painfully aware that other then the Strife's overcoat the machine was completely missing its external upper body armor. The kilometer long sprint from that corner to the 5th Angel was looking painfully long.

Shinji paused before the corner and opened a com line to Rei. "Ayanami, on three I'm going to move I want your right behind me."

"Yes Sir." Rei replied.

"One . . . Two . . . THREE!"

The Strife swung around the corner leading with its shield. 1000 meters. 1 second.

The 5th Angel, Ramiel, detected this transgression upon its defensive cordon immediately and began charging its particle cannon. 960 meters. 2 seconds.

The Strife had taken a total of nine steps before the Angels beam hit. The shot was warped by the magnetic field created by the Strife's affector but at that range the energy blast really couldn't be diluted to much. The Shield began to melt.

Yumi squinted as she watched the energy blasts end point begin to move towards the angel, she took careful aim. 'Hurry Shinji Sama.' 870 meters. 5 seconds.

The Strife began its all out sprint hitting full speed, the shield was still holding barely as Unit-01 charged behind its. 700 meters. 10 seconds.

Rei could see only the dark silhouette of the Strife's hulking form before her, lit by the impossible radiance of the Angels particle beam. She kept close behind Shinji as he had ordered, she felt a strange duplicity within the plug as if Unit-01 felt the same need to complete the mission. 560 meters. 15 seconds.

The shield began to give way disintegrating and revealing the armored overcoat of the Mark Strife. Shinji pulled the cloak up to take the energy blast, hoping it would last a few seconds longer then the shield. 400 meters. 18 seconds.

Everyone in terminal dogma was watching and listening as the Strife reached its break off point. "AYANAMI NOW!" Shinji shouted as he and the strife rolled off behind the cover of a series of armored buildings. 150 meters. 26 seconds.

The Angel's particle lance followed him before attempting to switch back to Rei. Before it had the chance Rei shifted the entire massive bulk of Unit-01 so that the EVA full backwards skidding in a shower of sparks before coming to stop almost beneath the Angel. There was a flash of heat and sparks, everybodies eyes widened. The entire plan had been built on the assumption that the Angel couldn't protect itself at point blank range. 20 meters. 34 seconds.

Though it did not seem to be utilizing its particle beam apparently the angel did have a final defenseive weapon.

"A fucking heat ray, you have got to be kidding!" Tanaka snarled as an entire facet of the Angel's diamond like body glowed blue/white, casting a focused white light upon Unit-01.

'NO' Shinji and the Strife had almost the same thought as he rolled out from behind a building, one massive arm reaching into the darkened folds of the Strife's over coat and withdrawing a sawed down shot gun of impossible proportions.

"The targets AT field has been neutralized." Aoba shouted.

"YUMI NOW!" Misato ordered.

Yumi's cannon fired the shell following its companions in the tradition of reaking havoc to its intended target and the surrounding environment.

The round went in one side of the Angel and out the other along with an entire facet of the Angel's smooth, chitinous, outer shell.

Cracks from the massive hydrostatic shock of the rounds passage coverd the body, their was no doubt that the thing was dead. Then it began its fall, right towards Unit-01 which lay, armor slagged before it. The drill bit beneath snapped off cleanly as it fell began its fall and then paused as an explosion shook its already mangled form. Shinji fired again, and again, the shells from the Strifes 32'' Shotgun knocking the angel onto a slightly different course that brought it down at a right angle to Unit-01.

Central dogma was silent. The Angels drill had been stopped fifteen seconds from penetrating the GeoFronts final armor layer.

"The target has gone silent." Aoba reported.

Nobody was listending instead intent upon the main monitor, a video feed from atop one of the armory buildings showed the Strife lift Unit-01's blisterd form to a sitting position and rip away the neck armor. The plug auto ejected and with infinite care the Strife placed it on the ground, well clear of the still red hot sidewalks and armor of Unit-01.

Shinji dropped from the divers pod sliding down the organically smooth lines of melted and reformed armor on the Strifes legs. He could feel the heat through his tennisues. 'Damnit Ayanami you better not be dead.' He thought to himself. -Stern Agreement- Was the Strife's reply. It was unusual for the massive machine to be able to communicate with Shinji outside of the pod, but it was not something that hadn't happened before.

'Stay out of this please.' Shinji asked as he came to the plug emergency hatch. He grabbed the handles on the hatch, cursing as his hands were seared by the heat. 'Screw it.' He thought to himself. He yanked the plug hatch open and pulled his hands away, a fine skeen of his own flesh coming off on the hatch. His palms were a bloody mess and he thought he could smell cooking pork, but that was irrelevant. He poked his head inside the plug, using one arm to shield himself from the plume of steaming LCL, Rei lay unconscious in the plug seat.

At least he though she was unconscious, "Ayanami." He shouted. "AYANAMI!" He shouted again when she didn't reply. 'God damnit don't be dead.' His throat tightened, why was he getting all choked up over this girl. 'Because I know . . . She's been sad for so long . . . I know . . . And the Strife knows.' He told himself.

He was near tears when he finally saw her shift a little. Her eyes cracked open. "Lieutenant Ikari?" She whispered weakly, "Was the Angel defeated?"

Shinji smiled and nodded, "We got it Rei, Yumi blew it straight to hell." He assured her.

She blinked and frowned as she sat up in her seat weakly. "Then . . . Why are you crying?" She asked.

He shook his head, "I'm crying for you ." He said smiling, "I'm crying because I'm happy your safe, that's what tears are for, showing that you care." Shinji said softly.

Rei thought about this, she'd never been told the meaning of tears, she had assumed that they meant one was sad. 'Perhaps they have a deeper meaning . . .' She considered this as Shinji helped her from the entry plug, shouldering her gently he saw in the moonlight that her entire face looked scalded red. 'Second or first degree burns then.' He thought, well if that was the worst she had then she was very fortunate.

He saw her down near the strifes feet noticing her shiver, he pulled off his own jacket and draped it over her. She blinked a few times, letting her vision clear.

"SHINIJ SAMA!" A voice boomed as a vibration built in the ground. The Mark Ziel stopped Two hundred meters from the remains of the Angel its huge rifle slung across its back, its heavy weapons arms trailing like a scarf. Yumi dropped to the ground straight from the diver pod, absorbing the thirty meter plummet on all fours.

She ran as hard as she could towards Shinji and Rei, her progress slowed greatly by the rubble in the immediate vacinity. Shinji waved to her before turning back to Rei, "Ayanami, don't ever say you have nothing else, don't ever say that again." He said smiling eyes still watery. "It would be a lie, maybe it was the truth before, but now it's a lie." He said. "You have me and Yu, you have us, and you have the Strife as well. And I'm certain if you asked you would have Misato and probably the some of our classmates."

Rei blinked again, she didn't fully understand, but the thought of something other then EVA, perhaps not the Strife, but human contact, did stir something in her. 'It hurst less . . . When Cadet Toyama talks to me.' Rei shook her head. "I'm very sorry Lieutenant Ikari, but I don't know what I should feel or say at a time like this."

Shinji cupper one hand beneath her chin and delicately led her gaze to look her in the eyes. "Then just smile."

She blinked a few times, her lips twitched curving upwards slightly. It was exagerate still, as if Rei was still trying to get used to how to shape her face into such a visage. Yet it was far from a mask this time.

When Yumi finally got to the two people she considered friends she stopped and then nodded as she saw a truly inoccent smile.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Doctor Toyama starred at the main monitor screen in her study. Captain Tanaka starred back from his own office within NERV. This transmission was encrypted and bounced off of so many satellites and relays that not even a MAGI level computer could have tracked it. This also caused a near ten second lag in communications as Tanaka continued.

"Damage to the Strife was minor, but the upper body armor has proven a liability like I said it would to begin with. We'll be leaving the unit without the external upper armor and rely on the overcoat for now so please don't send any more upper body plates in the supply convoys."

Doctor Toyama nodded. "And have you extracted the data from Yumi."

Tanaka shifted, "Yes Ma'am we've downloaded the data from the Mark Ziel's diver pod. Activation levels have exceed sixty two percent . . . So who do you think it will bond to."

"Your assuming a bond hasn't already been formed." Doctor Toyama said, adjusting her horn rimmed glasses.

Tanaka's eyes widened "Wait, you don't mean!" He caught himself, a good thing considering Doctor Toyama would be unable to catch him with the lag.

"As for that, yes, it makes him rather Unique among or pilot roster."

"Having two bonded to him." Tanaka said. "Look I care about Shinji as much as the next guy but can you really trust a person with that kind of power."

Doctor Toyama turned from the screen. "With the Exception of the two Arcadian artifacts discovered at the Beta site all of our Mark Unit's are simply copies. Even the Eldridge is essentially a copy of the Arcadian technology. And a pale copy at that, if the Mark Sol can be activated then it will be the first piece of Arcadian technology to be fully reactivated, not even the Mark Fear has exceeded seventy two percent capability we just don't know enough. But the Colonel told me this once, being bonded to a Mark Unit means that you do affect each other, your still individuals but there's a very deep bond to the machines own values. To put it simply he wouldn't be inclined to use that power selfishly because neither of the Mark Units would be inclined as such."

Tanaka scratched at his head. "Doc, that makes no sense to me and you know it."

She smiled, "And that's why you aren't a scientist." She said smiling. "Little Brother."

The man huffed, "You haven't admitted you were part of the family since Kiroshi died."

"I'm just like that Shiiro, you should know that, I still love him, and I love Yumi too, you know, he was so proud when he showed me the fetus. That was a year before her accelerated growth cycle completed and then finished installing the components. Even then I promised him that I would be her mother. Then, he died and . . ." She lowered her eyes.

"I know you miss him a lot Sayuri, I do to, he was a good man."

"I know . . . That's why I kept his name." She said softly.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Oh yes to the good Takashi Roiji I personally consider myself a Lieutenant Junior Grade, if you'll not that is Shinji's full rank in this fic -. I'll consider myself to have finally reached the vaunted rank of Colonel when I get an original work published (Not likely I'm at least aware that I am far from Banks, Laumer, or the great Weber when it comes to SF writing). For now I do this as a mental excercise.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Next Chapter: With MESSIAH and NERV in the business another organization tries to butt in on the anti monster market with Jet Alone. Will a still damaged Unit-01 be able to stop this menace or will MESSIAH have to step in? Will Yumi pull off a miracle or will all hope be lost in a nuclear meltdown? Next time around, It's . . . A Human Kind of Thing.


	6. Its A human kind of thing

Chapter Six: Its . . . A Human Kind of Thing.

As usual I own nothing, and I apologize for the last chapter, wanted to get it out and I was distracted I would like to point out that I meant 2nd and 3rd degree burns, if Rei had first degree burns then she would be a rather toasty critter when they removed her from the plug. I apologize for that MASSIVE mistake.

I also apologize for Shinji's . . . Mary Sueness, I'm going to try and deconstruct that over the next few chapters. Think of it this way, Asuka is nearly as cocky, Shinji has his own reasons. As I hope this chapter will show without seeming to cheesy and messed up. As for the earlier remarks, I really don't know why I had Shinji hit Touji though I think I'll probably go back and change that eventually.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"File open, 002, Pilot Candidate Yumi Toyama." Doctor Toyama looked at the pictures of her adopted daughter. "Current age, eight years since initial activation, mental age of approximately fourteen, physical age of approximately fourteen. Selected as the Second Candidate and designated pilot of the Mark Ziel prototype precision weapons platform and designated Sniper for her paired team with Lieutenant Shinji Ikari, the teams close range fighter.

Her emotional state has shown great progress, in the last seven years especially, with the increase in the total number of people she has interacted with. As has been theorized an artificial soul has been proven to take on a consciousness and will of its own after no less then one years time after its initial activation. This would correlate with Candidate Toyoma's initial activation of the Mark Ziel's grid tap approximately four hundred and twelve days after her initial activation.

Greater research will need to be placed into the analysis of her internal systems if the project to reactivate the Mark Sol is to be completed as intended. However her interaction with both Lieutenant Ikari, despite my strong and well founded protests in the past to remove her from this paring, and NERV Pilot Rei Ayanami should be considered beneficial in both the long and short term."

Doctor Toyama leaned back in her chair . . . 'Kiroshi . . . You know I'd lover her all the same, but why did you leave such a black box in my hands . . .'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Rei shifted uncomfortably as she waited where she had been told outside the GeoFront. She pulled the wide brimmed straw hat Yumi had given her, down a little further to protect her tender skin from the sun. The burns were not major, third degree, at best. And her skin was far more resilient then her ghostly complexion let on. Even without most of the supporting characteristics that allowed the Angels their almost instantaneous regeneration her body did heal quickly, and like them, no permanent scaring would ever blemish her, they simply faded in a matter of months at most.

That didn't stop her skin from being very sensitive at the moment as she waited in the shade before the NERV entrance in the light weight white dress that Yumi had given her to wear. The soft material was admittedly much more comfortable then her uniform would have been. "Ayanami." Shinji shouted as he Yumi, and the other two boys of the group the class representative called 'the three stooges' came walking up.

"Told you we'd be here." Shinji said giving her a small smile, Rei nodded. This was something that friends were supposed to do . . . Spend time together, though she was curious what the point of doing so in a public place was. 'Perhaps it enhances the experience in some way.' She thought as she trailed beside Shinji. Shinji and Yumi were now her comrades and friends, perhaps that was the word.

Regardless she was being given an opportunity to consider these things and experience them, even if it had taken several days gentle prodding from Shinji at Yumi's request to pull her out into the light so to speak.

"You know Ayanami with your skin like that it looks like you finally got a sunburn." Kensuke Aida noted. "Though that is kind of odd, I'm surprised your not toasted more often Albino's aren't supposed to have much tolerance for direct sunlight.

'I am not albino.' Rei thought irritably. In fact she wasn't really, except for in mind and spirit, all that human either, not any more than Yumi was. Humans didn't have 24 chromosomes and an S2 core in their abdomen.

"I take precautions." Rei said simply. Yumi had told her it was sometimes best to respond to a question rather then ignore it totally.

Kensuke nodded, both he and Touji were starring, he knew, not that either of them cared. Rei in ANYTHING other than her normal school uniform was surprisingly beautiful, even with her skin a light pink from her recent experience with the Fifth Angel. 'That's odd', Kensuke noted her arms, they were as red as the rest of her skin, but there was something odd. 'Somebody burned that bad should have some bad skin peeling.' He just chalked it up to NERV's medical technology.

Rei was quiet the entire walk, observing but not speaking until they reached the mall where a rather irritated looking Hikari Horaki met them. Rei took in the fact that none of her companions wore there normal school uniforms, it felt strange to her. Uniforms promoted order, equality among those of similar rank, and structure for the different levels of hierarchy, yet it was obvious even now that Miss Horaki was in control and the 'stooges' were her subordinates.

She looked to Rei and smiled. "Its nice to see you finally decided to come along Miss Ayanami." Hikari said smiling. Rei did not reply, simply nodding politely.

'Well, its progress.' Hikari decided before she went back to berating Touji and Kensuke for starring at the girls during PE.

"Man we're out of school and she still torments us." Touji whined.

Shinji shrugged, "Told you, being a gentleman pays off, and makes you feel good about yourself."

Hikari nodded in agreement, Shinji really was the closest thing the class had to a gentleman and she even thought that after she'd found out about Touji's nose. The strangest thing had been that from that day on, Touji and Shinji had been friends. 'Boys' She though with amazement.

The group entered the mall, which to Rei was a disturbing, disordered mass of light and sound with little actual reason, Rei shifted a little bit closer to Yumi and Shinji, they both at least understood what they were doing here.

Rei glanced about, the light and sound was overwhelming for her first time in a place like this and she paused to take a breath. Shinji noted and led her to sit down. "You ok?"

"I am fine." Rei replied, "Simply . . . overwhelmed."

Shinji nodded, "Hikari and Yumi are going into one of the department stores, why don't you go with them for now it'll be less crowded there."

Rei nodded absently as she observed a group of young men walking by in black leather and chains. People called her appearance strange when there were others walking around dressed like that. How odd.

Ayanami was pulled along quickly by Hikari and Yumi leaving Shinji and his two friends to there own devices. Kensuke looked at the two of them, "We have at least an hour and a half before they get back . . ."

"Arcade." They said simultaneously.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I see." Gendo Commented into his phone.

"No it won't be a problem." He said looking at the black and white picture showing a machine that looked like a cheap knockoff of an EVA. "Still it was good that you alerted me of this, it will be taken care of." Gendo closed his phone and hit a button on the intercom, "Doctor Akagi."

"Yes Sir, what do you need?"

"I have need of your professional services." Gendo said coldly, making it clear what he meant.

"Of course Sir." Ritsuko replied quickly.

Gendo decided to add a little temptation. "Do well and I may make use of your . . . Other services . . . In the near future."

"Yes Sir." The response this time was far more energetic.

Gendo closed the line glancing down at the still image of Jet Alone, 'This will be taken care of soon enough.' The only subordinates Gendo put more faith in then Ritsuko, were Fuyustuki, and Rei.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Are you certain these are all . . . Necessary." Rei asked weakly as Hikari dragged her along in her wake, distress clear in her eyes.

"You don't need to get anything if you don't want Rei." Hikari reassured her, slowing her pace so that Rei could walk beside her. "You should only even consider buying something if you like it." She explained, it was odd trying to explain shopping to Rei.

The blue haired girl was busy taking in the environment, at the moment there wasn't much in the way of clothing that she could find comfortable considering the state of her skin but there were a few things that Yumi insisted she would look nice in. This was coming from a girl who considered boxers appropriate undergarments.

"Perhaps . . ." Rei replied honestly, not knowing what else to say. After a while she found that she was . . . Enjoying herself. Not in the sense that she found any of this fun, but she didn't feel like it was a wasteful use of otherwise free time.

Rei was a little confused when she was told to sit quietly and judge the various outfits that the class representative tried on, in general she would simply mimic Yumi's responses, not so much because she was lacking in opinion as much as that in general her own tastes in cloths she was fast discovering were what other students had called tomboyish, and perhaps more then a little conservative.

Thought things were made considerably more difficult when Rei was dragged up by Hikari to try on clothes, it was a rather painful experience for her as the class representative piled her down with a half dozen shirts, pants, skirts, and jackets, more then she would ever have cared for. The girl was then sent off to try them all on, not an entirely pleasant experience considering the abused state of her skin. Still the pain was not so great as to allay her curiosity.

It had ended up taking more time than Rei had expected, for herself at least, apparently Miss Horaki had believed she needed to consider clothes carefully with her unique hair and eye color. What her appearance had to do with the clothing she did not fully understand but apparently through some ancient wisdom known only to every other female on the planet the pig tailed girl had found the 'appropriate' clothing for her.

The double shopping bags that Hikari ended up with dwarfed the selections that Yumi had made of a pair of baggy camo pants and a couple of shirts, leaving Rei's own simple acquisition of a new blouse and some loose jeans look conservative in comparison never mind it was more then she had ever purchased for herself before in her life.

Payment was straight forward when they finally got to the register, Rei had a sizeable cost of living stipend saved up, she supposed the Commander had intended her to use the money at some point for her own enjoyment, but she had never really desired anything. Even at the moment she had no real intense desire to possess things and doubted she ever would. But that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the concept.

The next thing Yumi did was take Rei to get an ice cream cone at one of the small stands ringing the main escalators at the center of the mall, Rei got a sherbet due to her metabolism's absolute intolerance for complex proteins while both of the other girls went with something a little more elaborate . . .

"Are you sure you can eat that?" Hikari asked, looking at the tapioca supreme that Yumi was digging into.

"Mmmmm, mmmm hmmmm." She said as she took another bite of whip cream, pudding, chocolate, and ice cream.

"That's . . . kind of gross." Hikari commented, feeling mildly ill.

Yumi pouted her lip a little which came to a messy conclusion with the ice cream in her mouth.

Hikari giggled at her friends sloppiness while Rei trailed behind absorbing it all, she felt . . . Less cold. She decided, yes this was not so bad a thing being with others. 'The commander said becoming close to others would cause me pain.' She thought wearily, but she knew . . . At least Yumi was like her to some degree, a construct. If she were to discover her true nature then at least she would be less likely to fear or hate Rei then any others.

'If I am to have a friend Miss Toyama is the logical choice . . .' Hikari poked Rei in the shoulder, catching her by surprise.

"Yes?"

"Its good to see you finally coming out like this Ayanami." Hikari said smiling.

"What do you mean?" Rei asked.

Hikari cocked her head, "Well usually your so cold and distant, I tried to be your friend but you always just starred at me. If I had known that a little more patience would have broken through . . ."

Rei didn't say anything for a moment, "You . . . Were attempting to be my friend?" She asked curious.

Hikari nodded, "Of course Rei, why shouldn't I?"

"I am not . . . Normal, people do not usually take well to my presence." Rei said softly, only the Commander had ever wanted her close, of that she was certain.

Hikari looked at her strangely, "Well you are kind of odd, and the way you stare at people . . . Like that . . . Is kind of creepy but I've never seen you be mean to anyone. The way the other kids picked on you always ticked me off a little." Hikari growled.

Rei blinked, the Class Representative, had she ever joined in the teasing of the other? Rei did not recall it. Had she protected her? On occasion she had intervened.

'It is her job.' Rei thought as she stopped and stared at where they were heading. "But my appearance does not match with the norm." Rei insisted.

Hikari grinned, "Have you ever considered Yumi, those eyes of hers scare most guys right off the bat, not to mention she's the tallest girl in our class but she still manages to get along well with everyone. Even just being a little friendlier would get people to accept you." Hikari insisted.

Rei looked away deep in thought. 'Perhaps . . . Perhaps I should consider . . .' She gave herself a mental shake of the head. No such things were for other people, not for herself, she did not need companions this was simply an experiment that was all. She insisted to herself. A tiny piece of her soul, the part that truly knew her, and knew truly that Rei was her own being squeaked that she was lying.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji stood beside Tanaka, Misato, and Ritsuko, as Commander Ikari spoke.

"Japan Industrial is unveiling an Anti Angel weapon known as Jet Alone at the Tokyo Convention in three days time. NERV and MESSIAH has been provided with four seats for representatives at the event, Lieutenant Ikari and Captain Tanaka will represent MESSIAH, Captain Katsuragi and Doctor Akagi will represent NERV." The Commander said calmly looking over the four representatives before him. He privately was hoping to get a laugh out of Shinji from this. His dressing down of a UN Colonel had struck Gendo's sense of humor spot on, even if he didn't show it.

Shinji took a look at one of the small brochure pamphlets that was handed out, he snorted as he saw the new machine. 'They call this a combat mech?' Truthfully it didn't look fit to change the oil on an EVA. That's when his eyes caught on something else. "A slow fissile reaction?" He noted.

"Its one of the main features." Ritsuko commented, "Jet Alone is equipped with a traditional fissile reaction system capable of generating enough power for continuous operation for up to 160 days."

Tanaka whistled, "That's impressive and all Doc but honestly something like this on a land based weapon is a bit more retarded then even using say, an extension cord."

Ritsuko winced, "Well maybe if you'd hand over one of your cold fusion reactors for us to use." She muttered.

Tanaka ignored her, continuing to stare at the Jet Alone unit.

"It looks like a wind up toy, how can anybody take it seriously?"

"Well, Unit-01 was heavily damaged in its debut battle, the Mark Ziel damaged the city in its first fight, oh and we nearly got our buts kicked by the last Angel, frankly there's lots of attention on our screw ups right now." Misato said.

"People always focusing on the negative."

"True, and have you seen how much money it takes to keep this facility functioning? Man cannot live on EVA alone." Ritsuko said poetically.

"Amen to that." Tanaka said dryly.

"Dress uniforms are of course required, you are to observe the field testing and then report back with your personnel opinions. Dismissed."

The four filed from the Commanders office finally starting to talk a little more freely as they left. "Ever get this feeling that the universe hates us and is trying to turn the entire human race into a giant sea of Tang?" Tanaka asked.

"Where did that come from?" Shinji said.

"No where, its just one of those days." Tanaka replied glancing back down at the brochure. "This things isn't much of a threat to us, but NERV is a government funded organization so you two have a lot to lose." Tanaka commented.

Misato and Ritsuko had to agree there, the UN may have increased their funding recently, but they could just as quickly withdraw said funding and stab them through the heart. Could and probably would if they were given half a chance.

"Well I'll have to break out my uniform then." Shinji commented.

"Don't forget you have synch testing with Unit-01 tomorrow." Ritsuko commented smiling sweetly, or not so sweetly. "Be sure to be well rested. I have to say you showed a remarkably good score for a first timer in your test yesterday."

"He's been talking to Rei about synchronization during her training with the Strife." Misato commented.

"Oh, Rei Ayanami, you've been spending time with her?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yeah, me and Yu." He replied.

"They seem to get along pretty well actually." Misato commented, "They went to the mall yesterday with a bunch of friends from school, Shinji said Rei seemed happy, or, as happy as she ever shows." Misato said.

"Rei just seems odd . . ." Shinji commented, "Although there's something beneath that ice maiden exterior, I think she's just never had a reason to come out."

Misato grinned, "I'm sure our young Lieutenant can lure her out." She teased.

"Hey, its not like that!" Shinji flushed a little.

"Ahhhh, has my little Shinji started to take an interest in certain . . . _curves_." Tanaka snickered as he scrubbed Shinji's hair. "Hey, cut that out!" Shinji snapped, shaking his head. "Why me god?"

"He's not listening." Tanaka replied and continued along with Misato to poke and tease Shinji.

"They are so immature." Ritsuko muttered.

The elevator stopped and Ritsuko got off as Shinji, Misato, and Tanaka headed up to the surface.

"Hey Shinji I've been meaning to ask you something." Misato asked.

"Ok Misato, shoot."

"Have you ever seen those scars on Yumi's arm and leg?"

"Scars?" He asked, voice suddenly sounding very brittle. "Yeah, she had a circular scar around her arm right before the shoulder, and another around her calf . . ."

"I don't know what your talking about." Shinji said firmly as the elevator stopped on the hangar level. "I just remembered I have to finish a calibration check, I'll see you at home for dinner Misato." Shinji said quickly.

The elevators closed again leaving Misato with Tanaka. "Is there something about that I should know about?" Misato asked Tanaka.

The tall, black haired man shrugged. "Shinji may act like fucking Mary-sue but he has some reasons for it, lets just say he has a few ghosts and you just go him into his brooding mode about one of them."

Misato frowned, 'I guess everyone has something like that.'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji kept walking, his pace quickening slightly, he didn't want to think about those memories. He'd become stronger so he wouldn't have to think about them.

_No don't, Strife, STOP PLEASE STOP! _

_WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON . . . SHIT Cut the power to the Strife's right hand now . . ._

_Get her to the emergency room, have every type O-blood pack we have on standby when we get there and prep a full life support unit . . . _

_The right arm is completely mangled were going to have to amputate it and the right leg and clone the limbs all over again, fortunately we can salvage most of the cybernetics . . ._

_Do you understand what you did Shinji, you could have killed her, you could have KILLED her!_

_Its not your fault Shinji, you just wanted to prove that you could do it too. _

'I . . . Just wanted to prove . . . That I could pilot as good as Yumi.' His eyes started to sting as he stepped out on the hangar catwalk, the indirect milky glow of light strips warming his skin. He paused. Rei Ayanami stood staring into the Strife's eyes. The slightly shorter Mark Ziel stood to the side looking on with the same quiet and stoic air as the Strife.

"Miss Ayanami, Good afternoon." Rei turned to face him.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant Ikari . . ."

"What are you doing here, we don't have training."

"I am required to have a reason?" She asked.

"Uhhmmm, no, no of course not." He said as he sat down.

Rei hesitated, she had been reading books on interaction recently. Now perhaps was the time to put that knowledge to use. "You seem troubled today Lieutenant."

"Does it show that bad?"

"Yes . . . It does." Rei confirmed.

Shinji shook his head starring over to the Strife. "If I tell you a little bit about what's bothering me, will you tell me what your doing here?" He asked.

Rei cocked her head slightly, "That would be acceptable."

Shinji closed his eyes. "Lets say . . . that I was just reminded about something really unpleasant that happened between Yumi and me when we were a lot younger."

"Friendship can be very difficult, correct?" Rei asked.

Shinji shifted a little, "This didn't just have to do with our friendship, it was an incident that almost got me expelled from MESSIAH."

"Were you reprimanded?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, pretty bad." Shinji admitted.

"Then there is no reason for you to dwell upon it."

"Its one of those things okay Rei." Shinji tried to explain, like his friendship with Touji it somehow felt . . . Strained, at the best of times though he didn't show it he really didn't feel he had a right to be so close to somebody he'd hurt now in more then one way. 'What made me hit him? Oh yeah, he asked for it . . .' Hopefully the boy wouldn't ask for it again, hitting someone wasn't Shinji's idea of great fun but Touji had told him later that he would not have taken no for an answer, especially after Kensuke had convinced Shinji had let him beat him up.

"So . . . Why did you come here?" He asked.

"I feel . . . like I am pulled here."

"Hmmm."

Rei was still starring at the Strife's eyes, "I feel like something very important can be seen from here, but I am not sure what."

Shinji looked at her and smiled, "Well, there's you." Shinji pointed out, "Your very important." He said simply.

Rei cocked her head looking at him, "You are wrong. I . . . Am not important, I am replaceable . . . Unremarkable."

Shinji shook his head, "That's where your wrong, you have to believe me when I say this Rei, there isn't much in this world that isn't remarkable even the earth beneath us and the sky above us manages to be something new and unique every second even if we never really notice it. A friend told me that once and I think he's right."

She blinked a few times cheeks heating slightly, to Rei of all people, those words were extremely kind.

The two children sat in that companionable silence for some time until the glow strips switched from there day time butter milk to the evenings soft blue. "I have to be going now, Rei. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"I will be here as usual for my training." Rei said.

Shinji nodded and headed fro the hangar exit, "Oh . . . And goodnight Ayanami."

Rei turned towards Shinji as he headed out the door. "Good night to you as well Lieutenant Ikari."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji sat breathing the LCL with a little discomfort, 'This stuff . . . Smells a lot like blood . . . Too much like blood.' He thought as he continued with the tests. 'But I feel . . . So comfortable here . . . Its like . . . Like the Strife . . . But different . . . Warmer . . . Just what is EVA truly anyways.' He pondered, the test lasted for an hour and then he was finally decanted and allowed to shower and change.

He came out of the locker room and headed down the hallway thinking that same question, 'Maybe ask Ayanami, no I shouldn't bother her with something like that.' He kept wondering about it as he got onto the elevator and headed towards the surface. 'Need to make something good for dinner tonight', Shinji thought as he proceeded up towards the surface.

On his was up he ran once more into Misato and Ritsuko. He looked to Misato who was wearing her favorite dress today, "Did you really have to wear that to our parent teacher conference?" He asked.

She looked at him eyebrow twitching, "Would you rather be living with Tanaka."

Shinji paled, the last thing he wanted was to live with Tanaka or Rico, despite them being almost father like figures to him, Tanaka couldn't cook, and Rico spent most of the time in his boxers at home. 'HEY WAIT A SECOND MISATO'S THE SAME WAY!' Well . . . At least she provided some eye candy for the trouble she put him through.

"You ready for the Jet Alone trials tomorrow?" Misato asked Shinji.

"Mmmm, yeah sure." He mumbled distantly.

"Shinji? What are you thinking about." Misato Asked.

"Oh, just wondering about the EVA's and the Angel you know, I really don't know much about them. For one, how did NERV know that they would need to fight them one day?"

"I can answer that." Ritsuko replied. "You see Shinji, Second Impact, which every child learns about in school wasn't caused by a meteorite."

Shinji nodded. "I actually already knew that part, but what did cause it then?"

"It was caused by mans first meeting with the Angels, the First Angel self destructed taking Antarctica with it . . . And doing massive damage to the environment, the energy yields involved were tremendous."

"So the EVA's and Tokyo-3 were built to stop . . ."

"A Probably Third Impact, yes. Though why the Angels are attempting to cause this nobody is truly certain."

Shinji glanced back to note Misato averting her gaze as if distracted by something herself.

'I guess that makes some sort of sense' Shinji thought to himself, this was a useful bit of information. 'Does this mean the Arcadian technology has something to do with the Angels?' He wasn't entirely sure all he knew was that the Mark Fear and one other artifact had been recovered from the Antarctic at literally the last instant before Second Impact, at something called the Beta site.

'It must . . .' He wondered if he could use that bit of information as a bargaining chip to get the whole story from the Colonel at a later date. 'I have to know now.' He thought to himself. 'I have to know.'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Shinji, would you hand me the curry powder?" Misato asked.

"Your not supposed to put curry on bloody somen noodles!" He said in disbelief.

"How would you know, everything's better with a little curry." Misato said as she loaded the noodles down with the powder.

"Ok, you have officially ruined my dinner." Shinji said getting up and taking his dish to the sink. Yumi held out her own dish as Shinji came back to clean up, "Thank -" Yumi began before Shinji quickly yanked the dish from her hand not looking at her.

She looked at him sadly, he had been like this for the last two days, what had happened to make him hate her so suddenly.

He cleaned up the rest of the plates doing the dishes while Misato went to watch TV with PenPen leaving Yumi to deal with her own feeling about all of this. Shinji and her had always had an odd relation ships, a mix of brother and sister, mother and son, father and daughter, husband and wife, friend and friend, that always seemed to work out in the end. But now.

Shinji past be her without a word and headed for his room. Yumi followed him quickly stopping him in the hall. "Shinji Sama, why are you avoiding me?" She asked.

Shinji looked at her over his shoulder, "I'm, just troubled right now is all, Yu." He said weakly.

Yumi shook her head angrily, "No your not just troubled, what did I do wrong, please Shinji Sama, what did I do wrong!"

Shinji turned to her fully, placing a hand on her head and running it through her bubblegum hair. "You haven't done anything wrong Yu, nothing at all . . ." He breathed in slowly. "Good night."

He stepped into his room and slid the door shut.

Yumi starred at the closed door for a few moments before quietly heading to her own room.

She lay down on her futon and pulled the covers up to her chin, thinking to only herself. 'Shinji Sama, have I disappointed you somehow? Why aren't you talking to me . . . Maybe if . . . If I save everyone will you have words of praise for me?'

Yumi fell asleep considering these thing, one hand brushing softly against the fine hairline scar ringing her arm, never even thinking once that Shinji was quietly absorbed in a very old guilt.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji starred distantly out the back window of the NERV VTOL as they headed in to land at the Old Tokyo Testing grounds built on a flat concrete expanse near the ruins of the old city. A huge dome and an equally massive second building sat at the center of this field.

"These guys have no sense of humility, do they." Tanaka noted with a little disgust.

"Its there base, they can waste there money as they want, they have to explain it to there stock holders not us." Misato said as she took her dress uniform cap and place it jauntily on her head.

"Now lets be on our best behavior children." Ritsuko said to both of them.

"Ah, but mommy I want a lollipop!" Tanaka said sarcastically. Misato laughed, and Ritsuko rolled here eyes. Shinji was being consumed by something else too much to care.

They were lead to a convention area, the main floor covered by large tables stacked high with appetizers as the Jet Along staff opened up with a Question and Answer session.

Ritsuko brought up a question immediately, "Is it true that Jet Alone is equipped with a nuclear reactor?" She asked.

"Why yes it is, it is one of our products distinguishing features allowing it to operate continuously for up to 160 days." The company spokesman said proudly.

"And have you not questioned the wisdom of placing a nuclear reactor in a land based weapons designed to engage in close combat?" Ritsuko asked.

"We think it's a better choice then a weapon that can only operate for five minutes, and in its first battle sustained heavy damage." The man countered holding up a picture of Unit-01's slagged carcass.

'How did they get that image?' Ritsuko wondered angrily, regardless.

"NERV and MESSIAH are the only ones who have developed weapons capable of stopping the Angels."

"You mean the Affectos and AT field . . . Those are just a matter of research, certainly if it can be done by others it can be done by us, with the funding from our stock holders Jet Alone will succeed where the EVA and Mark Units have staggered along." He said loudly to get the attention of everyone in the crowd.

"Besides the reactor is guarded by multiple software safeties, the thought that it could go out of control belongs in a delusional mind, like that of hysterical woman." He said.

Ritsuko's eye began to twitch as the crowd roared in laughter. 'Laugh it up you little prick.' She thought to herself darkly.

"You're all acting like children." Misato mumbled through a straw as Ritsuko walked back towards NERV's appointed waiting room. Shinji and Tanaka fallowed her close behind. They had had the wisdom to remain silent through the meeting.

Only when the door was closed did Misato show how deep her restraint had been. "Grrrrr, how did they get that picture, Section Two is dragging its ass again." She snarled.

"Arrogant little bastard I'll say that." Tanaka added in.

"That's not all, for what he said, I just want to take his head and put it in this locker, and then I want to kick it and kick it and kick it! Ooohhhh." She relieved the frustrating by doing just that, denting the small wall locker with her shoe, quite a feat in high heels.

"Don't be like that Misato, he's petty." Shinji said finally, "Just stroking his own ego over initial achievements." Shinji assured her as he sat next to Ritsuko.

"Shinji's right, he's not worth the effort." Ritsuko said as she took her Jet Alone brochure and burned it to ashes with a lighter.

They were called out of there waiting room twenty minutes later when the Jet Alone public test was set to begin . . . That was when everything went to hell.

'I wonder if they realize walking in a straight line isn't all that impressive', Shinji thought absently as he watched Jet Alone begin its march from its hangar building. Unfortunately it continued marching, and marching, and marching . . . Right into the main building, and then through it.

Tanaka sat with Misato beneath him inches from where the two Captains seats had been crushed by Jet Alones sudden rampage.

"I think its gone nuts." Misato commented.

"They're using Windows . . . I know it." Tanaka muttered. They both seemed surprisingly calm for having nearly been crushed by an EVA sized waste of taxpayer money. Even as the people around them ran in panic.

Shinji brushed his uniform off glancing back at the direction the machine had run he looked up to the technical crew that had supposedly been operating it. "So much for your fucking Super Robot, now can we please go and kill it?"

The man up at the Command station seemed shocked and dazed as the group advanced up to him. "Now what's happened?" Misato asked.

He shook his head starring at the main monitor, "This is . . . This is impossible, the system is refusing our overrides, we can't shut it down."

"How could this be, Jet Alone's central computer was programmed for every possible eventuality.

"Apparently it not going psycho." Tanaka noted.

"Look, Sir!" One of the technicians pointed to a monitor displaying the status of the units Reactor. "The safeties are deactivating, reactor temperature is rising!"

Shinji gritted his teeth tensing slightly, he prepared to summon the Strife, if needs must he could take the damn things arms and legs off. A hand shot out to restrain him, Tanaka said nothing but shook his head. "Its not our place to intervene in this." He glanced over to Misato, "Hay you're the ones who've been wronged by these bastards so we'll leave the honor of stopping this run away to you guys if you want it."

Misato frowned. "Couldn't we just have Shinji use the Strife?"

"No, he's right, NERV will handle this." Ritsuko said smiling coldly as she saw a way to not only completely dissinfranchise Japan Heavy Industries and make NERV look good in the process.

Misato sighed, "How can we stop that thing , there must be a manual override right?"

The Spokes person for the project paled, "We can't give you the override code, do you know what that would do to this company!"

"Jet Alone has locked in a course, its heading for the nearest population center!" One of the techs shouted. The Spokes person paled even more, "We . . . We can get you the access codes as soon as we get clearance from the Board . . . But it would take an act of God to stop it now." He said shaking his head.

"For a guy who's been promoting a machine designed to kill Angels you seem to put an awful lot of faith in the big guy." Tanaka growled.

"Besides which, acts of men are better than acts of God, NOW MOVE YOUR ASS" Misato Shouted.

It became apparent however, very quickly, that the systems bureaucracy was rearing its ugly head. Phone call after phone call went out as the technicians and Jet Alone crew tried desperately to get the appropriate clearance.

Misato shook her head in disgust. "They're their own worst enemy." She muttered.

The lead technician finally gave up and slammed the phone down once more. "The password is Hope." He said simply as the other techs began smashing the control terminals. "As soon as the system loses contact with us you will be able to open the maintenance hatch on Jet Alones back."

Misato nodded. "Thank you for your co-operation."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So the basic plan is for Rei to stop Jet Alone long enough for a person in a rad-suit to get inside the Jet Alone unit and deactivate it." Tanaka reviewed.

They sat in the small passenger section of the EVA heavy lift transport reviewing the basic launch plan.

"That's about it." Misato said.

Rei sat quietly listening to the orders being handed out. She would of course fulfill her duty as expected of her. However she felt another obligation now, to fulfill her duty to keep her . . . Friend, safe.

"So who's the unlucky guy in the suit?" Shinji asked.

Answering his question the door leading to the aft section opened.

"Hey . . . Shinji Sama, how do I look?" Yumi asked as she stood in the doorway, radiation suit sealed tight.

Shinji stood starred darkly, then stood up. "Yumi . . . Get out of the suit now." He said with only a moments pause. His voice was calm but he spoke it like an order.

She frowned, "Shinji, somebody has to do . . ."

"Then I'll do it." Shinji cut in, "I'll be the one to go down there Yumi, not you."

"Shinji, Yumi is going to do it." Tanaka said grasping his young friend by the shoulders. Shinji tried to shake the bigger mans arms off, but he knew it would be futile, Tanaka was a phenomenally strong human being, his grip was like a well adjusted vice on his shoulder, tight but not painful.

"She's stronger then any of us, and has a higher tolerance to radiation and heat."

Shinji struggled to try and get out of Tanaka's grip. "Is that it! All you have to do is enter a pass code, let . . . Me . . . Do . . . It." He growled out.

Tanaka shook his head, "Can't Shinji your too valuable as a pilot."

"Ehhh, So is Yumi!" He shouted.

"Yes but she at least has a higher chance of survival than you do."

Shinji struggled for a few more moments before sliding back down into his seat defeated.

Yumi looked at him and smiled reassuringly, "I'll make you proud Shinji Sama." She said before turning and heading back down into the cargo bay. After a moment Rei quietly fallowed.

"Ayanami." Shinji said softly.

She paused and turned to look at him. "What is it Lieutenant?"

"Please . . . Keep her safe."

"I will protect her to the best of my abilities." Rei said, assuring him calmly.

Shinji didn't say anything as he turned inward upon his own thoughts.

"We're approaching Jet Alone." Hyugga reported as he poked his head out of the cockpit.

"Yumi and Rei are almost ready, we'll drop in thirty seconds." Misato announced.

The cargo plane was not the most maneuverable of craft, a massive delta shaped lifting body meant to carry the multi hundred ton bulk of an EVA at reasonable speeds . . . And not much else. The Plane was currently flying as close as it safely could to nape of earth, which was about two hundred meters. Unit-01 prepped to disengage.

Locking clamps released, and the seven hundred of fifty tons of armor, circuitry, and the flesh of Lilith that was Unit-01 dropped to the ground hitting solidly and going on the advance almost immediately. The EVA easily caught up with the ridiculous gate of Jet Alone as it marched in a fast forward fashion towards the distant city. Despite popular belief nuclear fission reactors DO NOT EXPLODE. Unfortunately their coolant could be heated sufficiently by an uncontrolled reaction to explosively breach the closed loop heat exchange sending fragments of radioactive materials and graphite dust tens of miles. No, Jet Alone wouldn't explode, it would just be Chernobyl all over again.

Rei grabbed the machine by an indentation in its back armor, taking a solid grip and digging her heels in. Jet Alones arms continued to wave helplessly as she extended her free hand to the entry hatch, Yumi cupped in her hand. The girl with a single well coordinated leap dropped onto the aft deck of the runaway machine and hit the release on the maintenance hatch.

Yumi dropped in quickly, the inner spaces of the machine were tightly confined but she had a good idea of where she was heading. 'Just follow the main path.' She thought, descending down deep into Jet Alones armored chest on hands and knees. These spaces were never designed to be entered easily, much less in a radiation suit.

As if to mock her the main control space was much more spacious, though obviously never designed to be entered after the machines initial activation. The graphite control rods sat extending out from the walls in the full release position. That meant the fission reaction was not being slowed at all by the neutron absorbing properties of the control rods. She grit her teeth as she glanced at the timer and radiation sensor on her wrist.

If a normal human being had been down here, even in the suit they would already have taken about three years off their life expectancy by now. There were days it was very good to be a synthetic life form.

She booted up the terminal and watched as it went through a short security sequence. She entered the first string of the override.

-**SECURITY ACCESS CODE-1.51.15 REQUIRED-**

The screen reported. Yumi typed in 'hope' and hit enter. The screen froze and then flashed system error. Her eyes widened as she entered the code carefully again. The same error message appeared. 'Somebody was prepared for this!' Yumi realized.

"Misato the system looks to have been rewritten I can't override it." Yumi reported over the radio.

"What! Grrrrr . . . Yumi there's nothing more you can do then, head back up for retrieval Unit-01 is going to take this things arms and legs off and then we're going to clear out." Misato said.

Yumi paused, "What about the people downwind of here?" She asked.

"The Magi are reporting high casualty rates due to exposure but there's nothing we can do. I'm sorry." Misato said gently. Yumi turned towards the row of internal control rods, face set in a determined mask.

"Now get out of there before the reactor goes critical, it may not be a nuke but it'll be enough to kill even you." Misato said sternly. "Yumi? Yumi!" Misato shouted into the radio.

Yumi took a few steps back and then charged slamming shoulder first into one of the control rods. It creaked slightly sliding in few inches. She pushed hard trying to get as much traction as she could from the wire mesh floor beneath her.

"Yumi . . . Get out of there, Yu!" Shinji shouted on the radio.

"I- I . . . Will . . . Not. Because . . . I a true defender of justice wouldn't give up, they would forfeit their life before letting this thing kill others." She shouted, "I cant let that happen Shinji Sama!"

"Damn it Yu, I know how you feel but this is YOUR life on the line down there not mine!"

Yumi cut the external com gritting as she pushed against the control rod which seemed to have gone as far back as it was willing to go, she pushed harder, locked her legs against a step near the fuel rods. Unfortunately there were certain tolerances to any machine, even a living machine, even one as well designed as a human being . . . Or Synthetic organism.

The flange embedded bones began to splinter as they were forced to take far more sheer force then they were ever designed to. It was her right arm and leg, they had never been as good as her left side, the bone began to shatter. Yumi hissed in pure agony as she kept pushing. 'Just a little father . . .'

Ritsuko watched it all from the Jet Alone dome, observing with a pair of high power binoculars the barely visible specs of Unit-01 and Jet Alone. 'Why hasn't it shut down yet?' She wondered, she'd loaded the computer with specific commands to shut down when the reactor reached the red line point.

"Oh god!" One of the technicians shouted. Ritsuko turned around, "What is it?" She asked sternly rushing to the monitor suspended high above, next to one of the huge holes Jet Alone has torn in the dome during its rampage. "The main computer in Jet Alone has critically overheated its losing system functionality, all of the reactors software safeties have been shut down."

"What about a mechanical back ups?" Ritsuko asked.

"We didn't think we'd need them." The spokesman said shaking his head.

"Wait . . . You didn't install a set of safeties that even SOVIET ERA RUSSIAN ENGINEERS WOULD HAVE USED!" Ritsuko screamed in the mans face. What kind of arrogant pricks had designed this thing?

(Someplace in Tokyo-2, the entire Japanese government bureaucracy sneezed simultaneously.)

"YUMI GIVE IT UP!" Shinji shouted begging on the com line. But she wasn't listening he was sure of that. 'Why do you have to be so FUCKING stubborn now.' He thought. 'Damn it Yu.'

Even Tanaka was starting to look like this had been a mistake as they watched from the safety of the cargo plane at thirty thousand feet. "Ma'am thermal radiation levels off Jet Alone have just spiked." Hyuga reported, "Reactor red line in fifty seven seconds!"

Rei slammed Unit-01's hand down firmly on Jet Alones shoulder blocking a gazer of superheated steam that had been obscuring her vision. It would not be for her if Jet Alone went into melt down, in all likeliness the Commander would be displeased with the extreme contamination of Unit-01's armor if nothing else. 'Please succeed Cadet Toyama.' Rei thought to herself as she continued to push against Jet Alone, she had only one hundred and six seconds of power remaining.

Yumi held back the tears as the pain threatened to knock her unconscious, her right leg would hold out much longer, she had to do it now. Just get one of the rods in that thought consumed her as she gave it everything she had. Bone broke, enhanced muscles snapped, flanges tore free. The control rods surface shattered at the end, but it inched inward. Finally something gave, the maintenance systems were still running and the uncontrolled insertion of one of the control rods was cause for immediate system shut down.

Yumi leg and arm gave out just as the rod began to slide back into place, the others followed in kind as the system shut down. Jet Alone stopped and slumped down. There was silence for several long moments before a pained voice came over the radio.

"Did I . . . Did I do it?" Yumi asked weakly.

Shinji slumped down in his seat in a caricature of Jet Alones own limp position, feeling very tired. "Are you alright Yu?" Misato asked worried.

"I'll . . . Survive, but I need someone to come . . . Get me." She said weakly, "I think I overdid it." She said trying to sound comforting to her friends and family.

Misato bit her lip, "Ok, me and Tanaka will head down as soon as we can get into radiation gear and head over from the testing facility, will you be alright until then."

"I'll be fine, the radiation levels have dropped down pretty low, still you should wear the suits." She said slowly, smiling as she lay eyes closed on the ground before the control rods. She didn't to move. As long as she was still the pain didn't shriek so badly that she would cry out, she could feel the muscle torn loose cramping up towards their remaining connection points on the bone pieces, that agonizing, pulsing pain was enough for her to deal with as it was.

Yumi smiled a little, 'Have I done good Shinji Sama?' She thought, before passing out.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Much later that evening, Misato watched Yumi start to come to behind the one way glass of the observation room window. Shinji was sitting beside Yumi's bed when she woke up. Misato couldn't hear anything through the thick glass, but she could see how relieved Shinji was he bent down and hugged Yumi around the waist, carefully avoiding the casts placed on her arm and leg, the NERV medical teams had helped the MESSIAH MD's as much as they could, refusing the bone fragments and muscles back in place but it would be weeks before Yumi could take off the castes or move about without a crutch.

"He really cares about her." Misato said to herself.

"You have no idea."

Misato turned to see Tanaka coming down the hall. "When did they become so close?" Misato asked.

Tanaka frowned, "That's actually an interesting story, but again I don't know if I should tell you, its something that those two have tried to forget and forgive about, they don't need to be reminded now."

"I have a feeling its important, so can you please tell me?"

Tanaka starred into the observation room, Yumi was already conversing cheerfully as Shinji talked to her, he knew they wouldn't be talking about what happened just yet. Most of the time . . . Those to understood each other, and this was one of those times.

"It doesn't cover any classified info so I guess I could tell you." Tanaka finally said. He didn't turn away from the window as he began to speak distantly, like someone telling a fairytale to their grandchildren.

"Six years ago there was an accident at our training facility. One of the pilot candidates, a young boy . . . Managed to get inside one of the Units during a maintenance period. He wanted to impress a little girl, the other candidate you see. She was much more skilled then him at the time though everyone was confident the boy would catch up very quickly.

Unfortunately he was still too young, and lacked the crucial fine manipulation skills needed to properly operate the machines fine motor controls. Well . . . The girl was badly hurt in the incident, they had to amputate her right arm and leg, both were crushed beyond any hope of repair. We almost lost the girl as well, the damage was so, so bad, she was in a coma for two months.

The boy was reprimanded fiercely by the Colonel and banned from the premises, he was furious that one of the candidates would do something so reckless. But . . . Several weeks later it was found that maintenance had left the arm operating on the Unit without securing the divers pod and had tried to cover it up. A more detailed search of the machines database by our intelligence section showed that a simple simulation had been the candidates intention, not taking control of the machines limb.

That is also when we found how close a bond had formed between the Unit and the candidate. By now the Colonel's anger had subsided somewhat, though he was still quite angry with the boy for being so reckless. He decided however that going to see the child was the best option to judge him for re-admittance. When he came to the child's home to speak to him however, the boy refused to speak, he said nothing to the Colonel as he asked him what his thoughts were on the incident.

When the Colonel finally asked him if he wished to come back the boy did not answer, he simply looked away ashamed. But you see it wasn't that the boy lacked the strength or courage, not in the least. He was frightened that he would hurt the little girl again, that he wouldn't be strong enough to hold back the power of the Unit.

Finally the Colonel gave up for a full year the boy was allowed to sulk. But this boy intrigued our Commander, the Colonel found it very noble that he did not try to take an easy rout out when it was provided to him. Especially when he was so young, such selfishness could easily be understood to get a second chance as a pilot.

The Colonel started to come again, and still the boy refused, until finally one day our Commander came with someone else.

It was the girl who had been injured in the accident, she had to use prosthetics at the time because of the long process of cloning healthy limbs to replace the ruined arm and leg. Yet despite that when she came she walked right up to the boy and smiled. The boy tried to ignore her, but she soon began to come everyday. The boy did not refuse to see her but for a long time he didn't say anything.

Yet the girl never once complained about her condition, which was doubtless difficult, learning to use prosthetics when soon she would have to get used to yet another new arm and leg. Yes she was cheerful and energetic child, she was never bitter over what had happened. When the boy finally spoke to her he asked if he should come back. The girl told him 'Of course, we are both defenders of justice and must do our best.'

When the boy asked her what she meant, she said the only thing that she would ever say about the accident. 'Its not your fault, you just wanted to prove you could do it too.' The girl did not come the next day, only the Colonel who asked him again if he wished to pilot.

This is what the boy said. 'It was my fault, I was a fool to think I could be a pilot. I'm not strong enough, but she is strong enough I'm sure, you have her, you should look for another pilot to replace me.' The Colonel just shook his head and smiled, this was the proof that this boy deserved the power held within a Unit. The Colonel left a card with a number for the boy to call if he changed his mind.

The next day . . . He returned to MESSIAH and started training as hard as he could, the girl watched him, and always congratulated him following him wherever he went. They became close friends and the boy even waited through the day long operation to attach the new limbs, helping his friend through the long rehabilitation program. Yes, they never spoke against about the accident, which seems very odd to me. Perhaps the boy still broods over it, and fears that the girl hasn't really forgiven him." Tanaka finished turning away from the window.

Shinji was holding Yumi's good hand close as he talked to her and laughed, they seemed to be having a good time. "I have to go, tell Yumi I'll be by tomorrow to visit her."

"Where are you going now?" Misato asked.

"Are you kidding, I'm the so called 'Commander' Of the maintenance Unit, do you know how much paper work I have to fill out?"

Misato laughed at the mans comment before he entered the elevator. Rei stepped out as he stepped in. Another visitor it seemed.

The girl walked quietly up to Misato and turned to look into the room as if mimicking Tanaka. "Is there something you need Rei?" Misato asked gently, she didn't know why, but talking to Rei for some reason caused her to speak as if to a particularly dim child. Frankly she had to admit, Rei didn't seem all that bright.

That perhaps was the essence of Rei's predicament, nobody ever looked into it, never looked at her eyes deeply enough to see the pain inside, they just assumed that they were glazed and stupid and thought nothing more of it. After all she spoke so little, barely acknowledged others and seemed to comprehend very little that others took for granted, she probably needed remedial classes, she probably couldn't string together more then a few words at a time. This is what people though, when they didn't just tease or avoid the girl for being a freak outright.

"Captain Katsuragi, what are the duties of . . . A friend in this situation?" Rei asked, fixing Misato with those red orbs.

Misato smiled, it was nice that Rei was starting to act, normal, a little. "Its easy enough you just need to go in there and sit down and talk with them. Ask them how they are, are they comfortable, if they don't want to talk about that talk about something else, or just sit quietly and be there for them." Misato said. Rei nodded, she now had clear instruction she entered the hospital room without another word.

Shinji and Yumi seemed to react positively to her presence. Misato shook her head as she watched, she'd have to go in eventually but for now those three needed some time together.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"The Jet Alone program has lost over ninety percent of its funding, I would say this was a great success." Gendo commented as he sat behind his desk. Ritsuko nodded, anticipating what might come next.

"I am however troubled by your failure."

"Failure, Sir?" Ritsuko asked surprised.

"Yes, the Jet Alone units melt down was only stopped by the valiant efforts of Cadet Toyama, if you had succeeded there would have been no need for MESSIAH intervention. More so this suggests that you may have failed to properly conceal the virus, in which case there may be evidence that may be traced back to NERV."

Ritsuko blanched, failures did not go unpunished, ones as significant as this dually so.

"Perhaps you should look at Rei's example and execute your orders with some competence, I have already had Melchior enter into the Jet Alone database, it has been totally deleted. They will know it was tampered with but at least no evidence will be found of by who. You are dismissed doctor.

Ritsuko blinked a few times in surprise.

Gendo looked back of from his paperwork after a moment. "You are dismissed." He said in a colder tone.

Ritsuko nodded weakly and rushed from the office, she had no doubt Gendo would kill her if he saw fit. In a perverse way that spiked her libido. 'Just perfect, I get blamed for those fuck ups in Japan Industrial.' She thought with disgust. 'And then . . . As if that's not enough . . . He has to tell me to be like his fucking doll!' She sneered at the thought, the second she got the chance she would rid herself of that filthy little half breed bitch.

She stomped up to the elevator still feeling frustrated, and now, more then a little alone. She'd cleared out her entire evening schedule, and for what? Going home to her cats and a instant dinner. She sighed shaking her head. 'At least Misato isn't cooking it.'

She was surprised when she found herself sharing the elevator with one of MESSIAH's men . . . Rico was the name he had given her when they had met some time before. He glanced at her as he leaned against the back wall. He wasn't a particularly attractive man, nor was he exactly ugly, his features were broad and firmly built. He had an odd mix of genes, African American, Latino, and a bit of Eskimo mixed in that all seemed to express itself. The affect was not entirely bad.

He looked at Ritsuko easily. "Long day, eh?"

"Hmmm, yeah, I have the rest of tonight off though at least, maybe I can get to bed early." She said, trying to cheer herself up.

The man grinned, "Hmmm, I'm off the clock myself . . . So, doesn't sound like you have anything to do tonight." He commented. Ritsuko glanced at him and smirked slightly.

"Are you trying to pick me up?" She asked giggling.

"Well that depends, do you like Italian?"

She blinked in surprise and then shrugged, "You mean Jappeto's?"

"Yeah that's the place." Rico agreed nodding, his head slightly, he hadn't expected to find such a good foreign restaurant in a place like this. But then again a sizeable portion of NERV employees and their families were foreign which kind of made Tokyo-3 a melting pot for different foods.

Ritsuko considered, she really didn't have anything better to do, and the thought of a good meal WAS tempting."

She smiled mischievously, "Your buying." She said as the elevator opened on the parking lot.

"Deal." The big man said as he followed her out.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tanaka whistled to himself as he continued down the hallways of NERV towards he MESSIAH enclave in the warehouse district. He really did have a lot of paperwork, which probably meant he'd be staring in his office over night. Well them's the breaks. He staggered slightly feeling very weak, then the pain hit nearly knocking him to the floor, he let his shoulder hit the wall to absorb the impact a bit. He cursed as the pain made him start to pain, like thousands of rusty needles being driven into his body by hammers.

He pulled a small pre-dosed syringe from his pocket and rammed it into his shoulder. The painkiller started to work immediately, filling his body with a cool icy sensation as the pain was driven back. He sighed in relief as he slid back to a standing position slowly, still breathing heavily. He looked at the small syringe and slipped it back into its plastic carrying pocket. Three more just like it sat in their own pockets. He knew he was addicted to the painkillers but then the pain was literally never going to go away, the doctors considered it the best option.

He started to whistle again slowly as he continued on towards his office.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The usual R&R, damn these chapters are actually getting longer. Hmmmmm. . . Meh, if anyone can think of Omake's to add I wouldn't mind hearing them.


End file.
